Car slides into watery hole after pipe bursts under Minneapolis street

October 6, 2015 at 1:45AM
A water main broke Sunday under SE. 8th Street, causing a sinkhole. Service was restored that day but the area is closed to traffic until repairs are finished..
A water main broke Sunday under SE. 8th Street, causing a sinkhole. Service was restored that day but the area is closed to traffic until repairs are finished.. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A water main broke under a neighborhood street in southeast Minneapolis over the weekend, sending a portion of the pavement into collapse and leaving a parked car partly submerged.

The pipe, 8 inches in diameter, broke Sunday in the 400 block of SE. 8th Street, according to city spokesman Matt Lindstrom.

Water service was restored that afternoon, but the block is off limits for "a few days" until temporary repairs are made, he said.

"There was a lot of water flowing … causing the sinkhole," he said.

Lindstrom explained that the pipe broke because "the clay and soil interact with the water main over time, and the iron deteriorates."

The pavement giving way dragged a Honda Civic into the watery hole, leaving most of the car underwater and its tail pointed upward.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

A water main broke under a neighborhood street in southeast Minneapolis over the weekend, sending a portion of the pavement into collapse and leaving a parked car partly submerged. The break of the pipe, 8 inches in diameter, occurred Sunday in the 400 block of 8th Street SE., according to city spokesman Matt Lindstrom. Water service was restored that afternoon, but the block is off limits for ìa few daysî until temporary repairs are made, Lindstrom said. Credit: Special to the Star Tr
A parked Honda Civic slipped into the sinkhole on Sunday. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Paul Walsh

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Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.

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