Crews Dealing With Sinkhole At Philadelphia International Airport Parking Lot Following Water Main Break
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Crews are working to repair a large sinkhole near the Philadelphia International Airport after a water main break on Monday night.
Crews with @PhilaParking are towing cars parked near the sinkhole that opened yesterday at a @PHLAirport economy parking lot after a water main ruptured pic.twitter.com/P8AaJFU2ur
— Matt Petrillo (@MattPetrillo) May 8, 2018
Water is back up and running at the airport as crews work to determine what caused the break.
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The 24-inch water main ruptured in the airport's economy parking lot around 5 p.m. on Monday, spilling thousands of gallons of water all over the parking lot. The flooding has receded but crews are still pumping water from the sinkhole and cleaning up the mess left behind.
"I come back and see chaos. See all these backhoes and digging in the ground and everything. It's really scary," said Joe Avid, who returned from a three-day trip to Canada.
No cars were swallowed by the hole, but Shelby Pettis' Honda came close.
"It's right where the water main break is," Pettis says.
She, her brother and dad returned to the parking lot by the airport Tuesday after visiting family in Atlanta only to find workers from the Philadelphia Water Department pumping water out from the hole just feet away from where they parked.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority says about a dozen cars now have water damage. Officials say claim forms are being handed out.
Crews had to shut off the water at the airport for about three hours on Monday as they tried finding the break. Some restaurants inside the airport were also temporarily closed.
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While the water is restored, the mess is not going away anytime soon. Crews say they need to now replace the main which could take days.