Car Swallowed Up By Huge Sinkhole
Jake Massey
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@slcpd
A car has been swallowed up by a huge sinkhole after a water main broke and flooded the road.
Water gushed on to the street in Salt Lake City after the main burst, and there was extensive flooding in the area, with the water reaching waist height in some areas.
Salt Lake City Fire Department said at least two homes sustained 'extensive damage', and a parked car was also sucked in by a sinkhole created by the break.
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The car belongs to Flavio Hernandez, who said it is his only form of transport.
He told KUTV 2News: "I started seeing my car kind of going like that like a boat, and then it just disappeared."
To make matters worse, his house was also among those to be seriously damaged by the flooding.
"Now we got to clean everything downstairs, buy everything new," he said.
"Mattresses were up to the roof floating."
Resident Jalil Reynaga said he witnessed the car disappear.
He told FOX13: "It was shocking you know, you don't expect this thing happening.
"The car was shaking back and forth until it got sucked up and fell in where it is right now."
Our officers are in the area of 750 West 1300 South assisting with road closures as @SLCPU crews dig out a car in a large sinkhole. Please use caution and avoid the area if possible. #SLC #SaltLakeCity #UT #UTAH #SLCPD pic.twitter.com/4HKq5Xp8GU
— Salt Lake City Police (@slcpd) May 3, 2022
His home was also severely damaged by the flooding, with video showing water several feet deep inside the property.
He said: "We were crying because we lost all of our stuff down there.
"Inside, it's crazy right now. It's flooded everywhere, you can't walk. The water is around my waist."
While the damage is hard to take, he added that the most important thing was that his baby cousin got out of the house safe and sound.
"She barely turned three months yesterday," he said.
"It was scary for a little baby, all the water coming up; and she was the first one to be up here."
Holly Mullen, a spokesperson for Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, said it was a 1940s 16-inch cast iron pipe that broke.
According to KUTV 2News, she said: "They typically are quite strong but sometimes things happen, and we'll be able to figure that out once we get our crews down underground and start repairing the break."
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