diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index 3aa44ccae61..a646d96f934 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -1403,7 +1403,8 @@ public boolean flushcache() throws IOException {
     }
     MonitoredTask status = TaskMonitor.get().createStatus("Flushing " + this);
     status.setStatus("Acquiring readlock on region");
-    lock(lock.readLock());
+    // block waiting for the lock for flushing cache
+    lock.readLock().lock();
     try {
       if (this.closed.get()) {
         LOG.debug("Skipping flush on " + this + " because closed");