Ocean sewage spill averted, reopening popular L.A. County beach ahead of Labor Day weekend

Thousands of gallons of raw sewage was diverted from leaking into the ocean at a popular Los Angeles-area beach — reopening the water and sand to revelers for Labor Day weekend, the L.A. County public health department announced Friday.

A root blockage caused about 6,700 gallons of untreated sewage to enter the storm drain at Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, the department said in a release .

Initially, health officials warned residents to avoid the water and wet sand at Will Rogers State Beach — citing the possibility that the sewage might have made it into the ocean. But Friday afternoon, the department lifted the closure, saying a low flow diverter had successfully redirected the sewage away from open water.

The forecast for the now-open beach calls for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s over the weekend.

Labor Day weekend roadtrippers and air traveler numbers are expected to peak over the next few days to finish out a record-breaking travel summer .

The near-spill comes a little more than a month after parts of nearby Venice Beach and Dockweiler State Beach were closed because of a spill of about 15,000 gallons of sewage near Marina del Rey.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .