Sewage Spill Causes Sinkhole In Pasadena Street, Causes Unpleasant Mess For Neighbors

PASADENA (CBSLA) – A sewer main collapsed and broke, leading to a dirty, watery mess in a Pasadena neighborhood early Wednesday morning which created a sinkhole in the middle of a major street and overflowed toilets in nearby homes.

The sewer line broke in the 1400 block of East Orange Grove Boulevard and created a sinkhole in the middle of the road.

"There is the potential of a backup when the sewer can't flow, so that is what happened this morning," contractor John Gavigan said.

At around 1:40 a.m., a Pasadena Public Works truck fell into the hole and had to be pulled out. The two workers in the truck were not hurt.

CBSLA also obtained cell phone video of toilets at nearby homes overflowing with sewage.

"When I smelled something terrible, and then I looked around and our clean out on the front lawn was just shooting out, backing up very pressurized water and sewage," Karen Ouellette told CBSLA.

"I tried to take a shovel and at least drain it away from the house as best I could," her husband Conner added.

"It came up out of our toilets because the sewage line had backed up," another man said.

The intersection of Orange Grove Boulevard and Hill Avenue was shut down while Pasadena Water and Power crews repair the sinkhole, the city reported. The closure was expected to last into Wednesday afternoon.

It's unclear exactly what caused the sewer line break.