Local authorities were scheduled to repair a burst water main in the area when the sinkhole claimed the Lexus
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by Brad Anderson
May 27, 2024 at 21:01
- A silver Lexus RC was partially swallowed by a sinkhole in Detroit after a 122-year-old water main burst.
- Authorities were alerted to a water leak at the intersection the day before, but a hidden leak wasn’t detected, causing the road to collapse.
- Luckily, the driver escaped unharmed, but the road is closed for repairs highlighting Detroit’s aging infrastructure issues.
A silver Lexus RC was partly swallowed up by a sinkhole in Detroit late last week, forcing local authorities to make major repairs to the road. While scenes like these aren’t common, they happen occasionally and in this case, the sinkhole was caused by a 122-year-old water main.
The incident occurred on Lexington Street in Southwest Detroit and security camera footage from a nearby house captured the moment the sinkhole opened up. In the video, the driver of the Lexus can be seen pulling up at an intersection when suddenly, the road collapsed. While it didn’t envelop the entire car, it was deep enough for the front half to sink in.
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The female driver of the car wasn’t injured and bystanders helped her escape from the car.
The day before the incident, local authorities were alerted to a water leak at the intersection and scheduled it for repair. However, the deputy director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), Sam Smalley, said crews didn’t know about a hidden leak where that water had found a path to the sewer main and had washed away soil from underneath the road. This is what caused the sinkhole to form.
“We use acoustical detection to find those or unfortunately, when we see something like this, we know one has occurred,” Smalley told WXYZ Detroit. “The average age of our water system is 95 years old. Even though we’ve been going through and replacing and refreshing a large amount of it, it’s still a very old system.”
Locals say they had started losing water pressure in the days leading up to the incident. The road has been blocked off for repairs.