When we talk about the kinds of damages that can result from a car accident, we most often focus on medical bills, pain and suffering or other kinds of physically-related injuries. Property damage is another type of compensation that accident victims can recover in a civil suit.
An accident recently occurred on one of San Francisco’s most famous and curviest streets. The accident not only turned Lombard Street into a water park, but it also caused a significant amount of property damage.
The accident occurred on Friday, March 2, 2012 when a car went flying into a fire hydrant with enough force to knock it off its mountings. Water spurted nearly 14 feet into the air and flooded down the curvy roadway hitting everything in its path. Approximately 30 to 40 minutes went by before responders could turn off the flow.
It is unclear what really caused the driver to lose control of his vehicle. A 68-year-old resident spoke to the car driver who blamed the accident on the vehicle in front of him who allegedly slammed on his breaks. The elderly resident said the water was so deep that “If you had a raft, you could have ridden it down the street.”
Another 62-year-old resident was not so light with his words after the expensive hydrangeas he had just finished planting were swept away. He claims that the accident is nothing new. “It’s always the same people who do this stuff,” said the resident. “They come in and treat this street like an amusement park and drive recklessly.”
Source: SF Gate, “Car crash sends water flying on Lombard,” Ellen Huet and Vivian Ho, March 3, 2012
