NYC Sinkhole Swallows SUV

Published January 13, 2015

A sports utility vehicle driving in Brooklyn collapsed into a large sinkhole after a water main break caused the street to give way early Monday, authorities said.

The driver of the SUV, who was not seriously injured, exited the car on her own and later went to a local hospital to be treated for shock, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Conlon.

The vehicle, pitched head first with the rear poking out the 12-foot-wide hole, came to rest on top of a gas main. Workers had started the process of removing it by early afternoon, said Andrew Troisi, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management. The gas main was being capped by Con Edison, he said.

The damage to Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge was probably more extensive than was visible, said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

"It's unlikely that the only part of the roadway that was damaged was that car-shaped hole," he said, adding that water seeping from the 8-inch pipe could have been washing away dirt beneath the roadway for days.

Emergency contractors would break up the road to determine the extent of the damage, Michaels said.

Water from the main break rushed into the subway system beneath the road collapse, suspending service on the R subway line along Fourth Avenue between 36th and 95th streets. Service was expected to be out through the afternoon rush, Troisi said.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/story/nyc-sinkhole-swallows-suv