Ruptured Main Puts Chicagoans Up a Creek
A water main broke Friday on the city’s North Side, sending thousands of gallons gushing onto streets and causing a 30-foot-wide sinkhole.
Police shut down a three-mile stretch of nearby Lake Shore Drive after getting a report of the broken main at 3:20 a.m.
The road was reopened by 7:30 a.m.
Witnesses said the break in the 36-inch main sent water gushing up to 8 feet in the air.
Chicago Water Department officials were trying to determine the cause.
Repair crews planned to pump out the sinkhole that opened on Addison Avenue. Two cars were partially submerged and other vehicles sat tilted along its edge.
Bari Levy, 30, who lives in a building in front of the sinkhole, used to park her car where the pavement had collapsed.
“Thank God somebody was looking over me and my car wasn’t there,” Levy said.
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