Water Main Break Closes Ventura Boulevard : Traffic: Geyser shoots into air about 5:30 p.m., leaving a hole in the sidewalk and closing the street during rush hour. Officials don’t know whether it’s storm-related.

TARZANA —  A broken water main left a gaping hole in a Ventura Boulevard sidewalk Wednesday, closing the main Valley thoroughfare to rush-hour traffic and flooding a nearby business, authorities said.

The eight-inch service line was ruptured about 5:30 p.m., releasing a jet of water that shot six feet high and carved out a 6-by-10 foot hole in the sidewalk in the 18900 block of Ventura Boulevard, said Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Debra Sass. Radiating from the hole was a 20-foot crack in the sidewalk; about an inch of mud covered the sidewalk and nearby areas of the street.

It was not known whether the heavy rains of the last several days caused the rupture.

“We don’t know the cause and probably won’t for a couple of days,” Sass said. “The mains in that area are located close to the sidewalk and the sidewalk collapsed near where the rupture happened.”

All lanes of Ventura Boulevard were closed from Wilbur Avenue to Topeka Drive for an hour until DWP workers shut off the water. Only one traffic lane remained closed later Wednesday evening, said Sass.

Deco Brass Inc., the business nearest the break, was flooded with more than six inches of water and mud, said store manager Dean Delicata.

“We heard this tremendous noise and we saw water spraying right at our front windows,” said Delicata, as he swept mud and water out the front door. “The water just seeped in and it was flooded.”

Delicata could not estimate how much damage was done, but said a new floor and plumbing would definitely be needed.

Dolores Goldstein was visiting her son, who owns Carmel Cleaners across the street, and saw the sidewalk crumple as the main burst.

“Water was shooting out of all the cracks in the sidewalk so high I thought it was raining again,” Goldstein said.

Deco Brass and its neighbor, a Burger King, were left without water service, Sass said.

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.