Repairs Expected To Last Days After Sinkhole Opens Up On Upper East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A large sinkhole opened on the Upper East Side on Thursday, causing a road to cave in. Crews have been working all day to make repairs and figure out how it happened.
You get a real sense of how large the sinkhole is when you see men inside and around it. The one-way street turned into a massive construction site after the pavement gave way at around 8:30 a.m., CBS2's Aundrea Grymes reported.
"It looks like a horror movie. It's quite the pit, it's like 10 feet deep," resident James Watson said.
Watson lives in one of two buildings on East 89th Street between York and East End avenues that lost water for a few hours as a result. The FDNY said the initial sinkhole was 8 feet by 8 feet.
Luckily, no one was injured and no cars were damaged.
"It was like very quiet street, nothing. Then you come here today and there's a million people," Watson said, adding the sinkhole seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"I've never seen it in front of me before, it was a little surprising," resident Vish Raman added. "And it's actually pretty deep, because when I came in, the entire arm of the crane actually went all the way in."
The sinkhole appeared just days after one opened up on the Upper West Side. Sunday's sinkhole on Riverside Drive and West 97th Street partially swallowed two cars.
Despite both incidents, the Department of Environmental Protection noted roadway cave-ins are actually down 25%.
Still, Councilman Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side, said he is concerned.
"We need the Department of Environmental Protection, which manages our water supply, Con Ed working together to find any leaks underground, making sure that we're not having any compromised spaces, and make sure that this doesn't happen again," Kallos said.
Con Edison said gas and electric were not impacted in the area.
Kallos told CBS2 the DEP believes a 12-inch water main -- or a 6-inch sewer main -- may be the cause.
Check back with CBS2, CBSN New York and CBSNewYork.com for more on this developing story.
