Workers Who Cut Pipeline Remove Mud

Workers building a 1 million-square-foot Calabasas industrial complex were reassigned Tuesday to an unusual residential project in Agoura Hills: cleaning up a neighborhood they accidently flooded with tons of mud and water.

The flooding occurred Monday when workers sliced open the main 30-inch pipeline of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District.

District officials said the mishap was caused by earthmovers being used to relocate telephone and electric cables that cross the 60-acre Lost Hills Business Center.

The pipe rupture occurred on a hilltop that serves as the boundary between Agoura Hills and Calabasas. It sent water cascading down a hill and into backyards of homes in Liberty Canyon, officials said.

Mud and rocks quickly clogged hillside drains that normally channel rain runoff away from houses on Provident Road.

“It sounded like Niagara Falls, and it looked just like a waterfall, too,” said homeowner Becky Evans, whose backyard and garage were flooded with mud and water.

Water service to several hundred homes was disrupted for 4 1/2 hours while welders from the industrial center project repaired a four-inch gash in the pipe, said Diane M. Eaton, water district spokeswoman.