A man living on Castillo Street was abruptly wakened at five o'clock this morning by police knocking on his door to tell him his car had fallen into a sinkhole. A cascading series of events led from that alarm to the current closure of a short stretch of the northbound Highway 101 slow lane and the Carrillo Street on ramp.
A break in a 12-inch water main, vintage 1924, under the 1200 block of Castillo broke through the asphalt at around 3 a.m., and numerous cars along the block have been towed in order to make room to fix it. City workers shut the water valves to stop the leak, explained water system manager Cathy Taylor, and the resulting pressure wave caused the break in a 10-inch steel water main running under the freeway near Victoria Street. Water flooded the freeway until valves to either side were shut down. Once Caltrans is done making temporary repairs to the number three (slow) lane, the Carrillo on ramp will reopen. Permanent repairs will be made after the agency has completed its analysis.
Nine properties lost water, two of them apartment buildings, and Taylor stated it was back on by 9:45 a.m. The shut-down under-freeway water pipe is part of the redundant water system — which keeps water circulating and prevents it from getting stale — and no service disruptions are expected across town. Repairs are planned for this section of water main, which has sections of pipe that are all 60 years old or older.