LOS ANGELES — The quiet summer campus of UCLA found itself suddenly steeped in water and chaos after a major water pipe burst and spewed some eight million gallons, stranding people in parking garages and flooding the school’s storied basketball court less than two years after a major renovation.

The 30-inch, nearly century old pipe burst under nearby Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon, sending water 30 feet into the air, opening a 15-foot hole in the street and inundating part of the campus that was soon swarmed with police and firefighters.

“Unfortunately UCLA was the sink for this water source,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said.

The break came amid a historic drought when residents are now being threatened with $500 fines for overuse.

“We lost a lot of water, around 35,000 gallons a minute, which is not ideal in the worst drought in the city’s history,” City Councilman Paul Koretz said.

The flooding hit the part of campus that is home to its athletic facilities, with the greatest danger coming in a pair of parking structures that quickly began filling with water.

Firefighters, some using inflatable boats, saved at least five people who were stranded in the structures where more than 100 cars were stuck, city fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

Water cascaded to the entrance of Pauley Pavilion, considered one of college basketball’s shrines since it was built in 1965, then poured on to the court named for legendary coach John Wooden and his wife Nell.

The arena — where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Reggie Miller and Kevin Love starred — underwent a $132 million renovation that was completed in October 2012. At least an inch of water covered the floor Tuesday night, and its locker rooms were also flooded.

“It’s painful. It’s painful,” Block said. “We just refurbished Pauley just a few years ago. And it’s a beautiful structure. It’s of course, a symbolic structure for this entire campus.”

Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said the floor would be cleared of water overnight and the damage assessed Wednesday.

The school may need to make contingency plans, but “luckily we’re not in the middle of basketball season,” Administrative Vice Chancellor Jack Powazek said.

The other two campus buildings damaged were the Wooden Center, which has training facilities for students, and the J.D. Morgan Center, which houses the school’s sports trophies, hall of fame and athletics offices.

Many students took the flooding in stride, walking calmly across campus with their backpacks in ankle deep water.

Paul Phootrakul of the UCLA Alumni Association, who was in business attire for an evening event, took off his dress shoes and dress socks, and rolled up his slacks in an attempt to wade to his tcar that was on the bottom floor of one of the flooded structures. Firefighters stopped him, saying the structure was not steady because of the weight of all the water.