Water main break opens sinkhole, leads to crash in Southwest Philadelphia

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Police say a water main break led to a crash in Southwest Philadelphia.

It happened before 6 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of 63rd Street and Eastwick Avenue.

When fire crews initially responded all they saw was a beat up road and enough water to make this impassable.

As it turns out, a car reportedly dipped into a sinkhole and that started a chain reaction underground to cause a water main break.

When fire crews initially responded all they saw was a beat up road and enough water to make this impassable.

As it turns out, a car reportedly dipped into a sinkhole and that started a chain reaction underground to cause a water main break.

Water Department spokesman John DiGulio explains, "There are several mains in the location, so we had to determine which main it was that was broken. We have identified it as a 12 inch broken main."

Water Department crews worked quickly to shut the main off,

"Once we shut it down there should be no customers that are impacted. However, if we need to shut further away from the valves that we initially were trying to work on, there may be customers that are impacted," DiGulio said.

After the Water Department is done fixing their part, then it's up to crews to figure how long it will take road crews to fix the intersection so drivers can get by.