Must See Photos: Ice-Encased Car In East Village
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A leaky pipe beneath a Manhattan street encased a parked car in ice and caused the pavement to sink in over the weekend.
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1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg with a man who says he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his car covered in ice.
CBS 2's Kathryn Brown asked Joe Marucci of the East Village how he would describe the sight. His answer: "I just said that's what sank the Titanic."
Chester Johnson of Bed-Stuy's answer was more laconic: "This right here is ridiculous."
East Second Street between First and Second Avenues is like a glacier as layers of thick cascading ice cover the block. Beneath the frozen tundra sits an Audi A3 completely encased in six inches of ice. "I've never seen anything like that, it's like an ice sculpture," a woman said.
Some just couldn't believe their eyes. "It really does look bizarre. I thought it was fake," said Lorraine DAgastino who works in the East Village.
Pete, the owner of the car, is taking the situation in stride. "It could be worse like if that was me or a family member covered in ice that wouldn't be good; so it's all relative."
Pete said he parked his car on the street on Friday night and sometime over the weekend the DEP said a leaky pipe caused a sinkhole in the pavement forcing water to bubble up and freeze over.
It takes a lot to stop New Yorkers in their tracks, but person after person, even Con Ed workers, paused in the bitter cold to take pictures. Around mid-morning Monday, the DEP turned off all water service to the immediate area and ripped up the street to repair the broken pipe.
After trying to crack the ice off with a hammer and screw driver Pete found it was no match for the layer of ice which is as hard and thick as concrete. Using a backhoe, the DEP was able to break up the ice around the car but the tires remained frozen to the pavement.
Pete was finally able to get into the car to run the engine and warm it up but the heat inside the vehicle combined with the ice outside caused the rear window to shatter.
"Definitely looks like it was encased in some kind of ice cave for hundreds of thousands of years," said Melissa Schubnell of the East Village.
