Water main break causes sinkhole on Detroit’s east side

DETROIT – A leak in a water main caused water to slowly break away the soil base underneath a street in Detroit, eventually causing the pavement to cave.

It is uncertain when the chunk of the intersection at Goddard and Dearing streets collapsed, but some neighbors said they saw it as early as 5:15 a.m. Monday.

“When I had seen it this morning, I was shocked,” said neighbor Fred Washington, who said he had seen the sinkhole at about 9 a.m. Monday.

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“I could tell the pavement was going down farther than it normally goes down, but I didn’t know it was going to turn out like this,” said one neighbor, Jane.

Despite being reported on the Improve Detroit app at about 2:30 p.m., it did not appear the city was fully aware of the issue until a few hours later.

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Sometime after 5 p.m., at least 12 hours after it was first spotted, the first Detroit Water & Sewerage truck arrived to secure the area.

“Hopefully they’ll come out and do something before somebody gets hurt,” Jane said.

A crew will be in the area all night to keep it secured and begin the underground pipe repair Tuesday morning.