LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen's Hollywood Hills home home narrowly escaped serious damage on Monday, after a broken water main sent mud and debris gushing across his yard, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

Van Halen's swimming pool disappeared under the deluge, and potted plants and trees were also demolished, his girlfriend Janie Liszewski told the paper. But the house was saved after firefighters fortified it with sandbags, she said.

The couple were not at home when the destruction started shortly after midnight on Monday. They were in the Canadian city of Edmonton for a reunion concert the night before by Van Halen's eponymous band.

They returned on Monday to survey the damage, which was caused by a broken air valve on a water main, the paper said. It sent torrents of water through the streets of the bucolic Coldwater Canyon neighborhood, but Van Halen's property was the only one affected by the flood.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Eric Walsh)