Sinkhole Swallows 3 Cars On Chicago’s South Side, 1 Person Injured

s-SINKHOLE-SWALLOWS-CARS-CHICAGO-SOUTH-SIDE-large300

A massive sinkhole on Chicago’s South Side swallowed up three cars and injured one person following a night of heavy storms and rainfall around the area.

Around 5:15 a.m., the sinkhole at 96th and Houston in the city’s Jeffrey Manor neighborhood opened up and two cars fell inside, according to ABC Chicago. Shortly after the fire department arrived on the scene, a third car slid into the sinkhole, which spanned both lanes of traffic at that point.

A fourth car was towed from the scene before it, too, was swallowed up, according to Time.

According to DNAinfo Chicago, neighbors and television news trucks gathered to take photos and video of the baffling scene.

Chicago’s Water Department Commissioner Thomas Powers told the Tribune Thursday not to blame the rain as much as the city’s nearly hundred-year-old sewer system.

“When [the water main] broke, it breached the sewer below it,” Powers said. “As it undermined, as the water was flowing from the broken main, it undermined all of the soil underneath the pavement and washed it into the sewer.”

Three to five inches of rain fell overnight in the Chicago area, causing additional problems with flooding, road closures, school closures and public transportation delays on the Metra train system.