WINNIPEG — City crews are trying to figure out what caused a sinkhole in the middle of Powers Street in the North End Wednesday night.
Farley Pollock turned onto Powers Street just before 8 p.m Wednesday when his truck’s tire suddenly broke through the roadway.
READ MORE: ‘Front end dropped in and that was it’: Truck caught in sinkhole, towed out by residents
“It dropped pretty quick, the front end dropped in I tried to get out, there was no way I could move it,” said Pollock.
He says he called 311 two week ago and complained about a small hole in the road.
311 records obtained by Global News show that a complaint was made to 311 on May 12 at 10:38 a.m.
It was deemed a ‘very high priority’ and crews had until July 11 to fix the problem but nothing was done.
Thursday morning, crews were seen lowering a robotic camera under the street to find the source of the problem.
University of Manitoba Engineering Professor Ahmed Shalaby says he knows how it happened.
“With sewer lines and water mains that are 100 years or older in Winnipeg it’s not unusual for a sinkhole to occur.”
Shalaby said sinkholes are caused when a sewer or water pipe collapse or break, eventually the soil around the pipe will also fall down and when the pavement is driven over enough it collapses causing a four to six feet deep hole in the roadway. He said this can be very dangerous.
RELATED: Sinkhole shuts down southbound St. Mary’s Road
“We have a problem with aging infrastructure that needs to be inspected and repaired and once we get ahead of that it will be a lot easy to prevent sinkholes from happening,” Shalaby said.
As for Pollock’s truck, he may have to get a new tire, but that’s about it.
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