Property Damage

Officials raced Monday to fix a large broken water main in Studio City and braced for tough rush-hours today near Coldwater Canyon Avenue, a heavily used mountain route connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside. Commuters are advised to avoid the area and, if forced to detour, stick to Beverly Glen Boulevard to the west and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the east rather than wind their way through unfamiliar mountain streets. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews finished welding the 62-inch water main -- one of the largest in the city -- that burst late Saturday, flooding residences and washing away cars in a powerful torrent that lasted hours.

Robert Lee was standing in his frontyard near the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Dickens Street in Studio City late Saturday night when he heard a low rumble and saw water at his feet. Then he saw water gushing from a sinkhole. "Maybe 10 to 15 feet in the air, and it was making a beeline for our front door," Lee said, adding that a friend with him was swept off his feet by the rushing water. A rupture in a nearly 100-year-old, 62-inch water trunk line caused flooding several feet deep on some nearby streets, officials said.

Hidden Springs Cafe, a haven for bikers, a coffee stop for commuters and a home to owner Jim Lewis and his family, has been consumed by the wildfire raging through the Angeles National Forest, authorities confirmed Tuesday. "It was completely razed," said Tom Zeulner, information officer for the Station fire. "The fire's burning so intensely that everything is consumed." On Tuesday, Zeulner said, an inspection team went to the punch bowl-shaped canyon where the beloved cafe once stood and discovered that all area buildings had burned to the ground.

Hand in hand, they picked their way through the smoky haze, past blackened oak trees and up a dirt trail blanketed in ash. They finally saw it -- their home of nearly 40 years. All that was left were the stone foundation and the fireplace standing tall amid piles of debris. Julie Garcia stumbled into the arms of her husband, Ernie, and sobbed. "It looks like the moon," Ernie Garcia said quietly. Big Tujunga Canyon is a popular spot for hiking, camping and fishing in the Angeles National Forest.

For 32 years, Jim Lewis has lived and worked in the middle of the Angeles National Forest, flipping burgers and making sandwiches for hunters, bikers and commuters at his family's Hidden Springs Cafe. He has watched fires come and go, each one skirting the serene, punch bowl-shaped canyon where the cafe is located. The only sound is often the nearby stream and the rustling of deer, coyote and the occasional mountain lion. But early Monday, Lewis found himself listening to freeway traffic near his sister's Burbank home, unable to sleep as he thought about the wall of flames he saw closing in on Hidden Springs just before he fled.

The Lakers' victory celebration was already underway inside the Coliseum on Wednesday when hundreds of people rushed into a restricted area, knocking down fencing and climbing onto the roof of a building to catch a glimpse of the team. Some in the crowd, which included women and children, hurled rocks and bottles at Los Angeles police officers dispatched to the scene.

Twelve tenants displaced by Tuesday's magnitude 4.0 aftershock are expected to return to their apartment building today. They were required to vacate their apartments in the 2200 block of Locust Avenue because the building suffered superficial damage from an aftershock two days after a 4.7 magnitude quake rattled Los Angeles County. They were temporarily housed at California Recreation Center Park. "From what I heard, plaster was starting to come off their walls, and that needed to be taken care of before the people returned," said Guillermo Sanchez, a spokesman for the American Red Cross.

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake shook a large stretch of Southern California on Sunday night. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries, though some broken windows, falling dishes and minor property damage occurred. The quake hit at 8:39 p.m. and was centered near Lennox, a community between Inglewood and Hawthorne and east of Los Angeles International Airport.

Violent storms tore through four Midwestern states, killing three people in northern Missouri, damaging hundreds of homes and leaving thousands without power. At least two tornadoes touched down in Missouri's Adair County on Wednesday night, authorities said. One destroyed 10 homes in the town of Kirksville, and more than 200 buildings across the county were damaged.

Until the evacuation orders were lifted at 10 a.m. Sunday, Paul Reide held out hope that his home on tidy, tree-lined Montrose Place in the foothills north of downtown Santa Barbara had survived last week's devastating Jesusita fire. Less than 30 minutes later, the tall, silver-haired retired salesman stood forlornly on a block of concrete that was once the foyer of the 3,000-square-foot tri-level home he liked to call "a quiet little paradise."