Minivan gets stuck in hole caused by West Toledo water-main break

8/26/2007

A water-main break in West Toledo yesterday created a hole on a city street big enough to swallow the minivan driven by William A. Beers, 57, of Temperance.

Water began bubbling through the cracks on Lambert Drive near Elmhurst Road about 7:15 a.m., said Lou Zink, 2955 Lambert, whose driveway is adjacent to the gap in the pavement.

He said it didn't take long for the intersection to become flooded. The muddy water apparently was so dark that it would have been hard for a motorist to tell that the roadway above the water main had cracked and caved in.

Police said that as Mr. Beers drove through what seemed to be a large puddle, the front end of his minivan plunged into the sinkhole and got stuck there.

He was not hurt and was assisted out of his vehicle before a tow truck pulled the van out of the hole.

City crews had the residential intersection closed to through traffic yesterday afternoon as they worked to dig out the concrete that had fallen into the hole so they could fix the problem and repair the street.