JURUPA VALLEY: Broken water main opens sinkhole, leaves 40 homes without water

JURUPA VALLEY – A broken water main in a residential neighborhood caused a 15-foot-wide sinkhole to open up Friday, Dec. 23. The incident happened in the 8100 block of Bridle Path Circle in Jurupa Valley and forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in the area of the sinkhole.

Jurupa Water District officials have advised it will take about eight hours to fix the water main. Forty houses will be without running water until the pipe is repaired.

Eleven firefighters from two engine companies and one truck company responded to reports of the broken water main that created a sinkhole after several citizens called 911 to report the incident at 7:21 a.m., according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire spokeswoman April Newman.

“Firefighters arrived on scene of a broken water main affecting a minimum of three to four houses, with a total of forty houses on the street,” Newman explained.

Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Jurupa Valley Police station responded to the emergency to assist with crowd and traffic control and to help evacuate the residents from the 40 homes in the neighborhood.

The Jurupa Water District was summoned to the scene and they were able to shut off the water about 8 a.m.

The 15-foot-wide sink hole caused by the broken water main opened up in the center of Bridle Path Circle, “with rock and debris flow directly affecting one residence,” according to Newman.

“One single family dwelling was affected with two to three inches of standing water; no structural damage,” Newman explained in an incident report. “The American Red Cross has been requested to assist two adult females and one adult male who reside in the residence.”

Firefighters managed to salvage most of the interior belongings and remove the standing water at the residence that was flooded. Damage to the home was estimated to be about  $120,000.

Firefighters checked the surrounding streets for any potential damage to other homes and determined there was no structural damage related to the broken water main, only flooding to the yards and streets.

 

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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.