Pipe That Spewed 20 Million Gallons Near UCLA Shut Off

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Work crews have stopped the last of the water gushing from a 30-inch pipe near the University of California, Los Angeles some 30 hours after it burst.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman Albert Rodriguez said the pipe was shut off completely at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and repairs are expected to be finished late Friday or early Saturday.

At its peak, water was gushing at 75,000 gallons per minute out of the riveted-steel pipe, and by Wednesday afternoon it was still spewing 1,000 gallons an hour, putting out an estimated 20 million gallons overall.

Rodriguez says workers had a giant inflatable plug at the ready to stop the flow, but it wasn't needed.

The break in the 93-year-old pipe left a swath of the UCLA campus including its basketball arena swamped with water.