Woman drives into large sinkhole in southwest Detroit, repairs underway

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A sinkhole that takes up the entire width of a street in southwest Detroit has become a huge problem. 

And it's just about as deep as it is wide.

Even a car got swallowed up by the sinkhole on Lexington Street.

Shawn Bundy, a witness, said he has only seen such a thing in movies. 

"I heard a boom, I ain't going to lie – I thought somebody got shot," he said.

Bundy was driving an armored truck when it happened. He said the lady inside the sedan was pulled to safety from her driver’s seat by someone above.

FOX 2 was told the woman was shaken but not hurt.

"I'm afraid to walk over there because, who knows, the rest might fall in," said Tabitha Alsobrook, who lives nearby.

Alsobrook said she noticed running water in the street the last couple of days, a clue of what was to come.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) came out Thursday morning and marked it for repair – a day after someone called. 

However, the road was still open when the car fell in.

"In the meantime, the leak worsened and there was a significant void under the pavement," said Sam Smalley, deputy director of the water and sewerage department.

And that void is what caused the pavement to cave in.

"Unfortunately, the average age of our water main is 95 years old," Smalley said. "This specific water main was installed in 1902."

That’s a 12-inch main that is 122 years old – not a rare occurrence either.

DWSD immediately shut off the water to the block Thursday afternoon to start working.

The department has to "excavate safely down to the repair area, remove the damage piece of pipe, replace it and then work our way out," Smalley said.

Once the main is replaced, DWSD will backfill the gaping hole, and then the contractor has 30 days to replace the road so it’s drivable again.