Street Flood at The Redwoods Damages Parked Cars

Bay City News Service —  A water main break outside a Mill Valley retirement community caused some street flooding that damaged about 10 parked cars early Monday  morning, a fire official said.

Crews responded to a report of a medical emergency at The Redwoods at 40 Camino Alto at about 6 a.m. On the way there, they were alerted of a possible water main break at the facility unrelated to the medical issue, Mill Valley fire Battalion Chief Scott Barnes said.

Firefighters looking into the water main break discovered that a line that supplies the facility's sprinkler system had ruptured, sending water into the street, he said.

 "It's a large main that encircles the facility," Barnes said. The line is only connected to the sprinkler system, and the residents did not lose their normal water service, he said. Crews found the shutoff valve and stopped the flow of water to the line, but a pool about 18 inches deep had already formed on Camino Alto, Barnes said.

 About 10 cars belonging to employees of The Redwoods that were parked along the street appear to have been damaged by water seeping into their interiors, the battalion chief said. He did not know the extent of the damage.

 "As soon as the water was shut down, we were able to clear some of the drains that were in the street," Barnes said.

 After that, the water drained fairly quickly, he said. Two lanes of Camino Alto were shut down because of the flooding, but no buildings were evacuated and there was no water damage to the interior of The Redwoods, he said.

 He said the rupture occurred in an area that is fenced off for construction, but that there was no construction activity under way at the time of the break, and the cause remains under investigation.

 Marin Municipal Water District spokeswoman Libby Pischel said the line that broke is on private property and is not a water district pipe.