Water main break leads to huge sinkhole in Arlington

The bitter cold is causing numerous pipes to burst across our region. One of those water main breaks led to a huge sinkhole in Arlington.

A county spokesperson said crews were trying to repair a water main break when the sinkhole developed at 34th St. N.

Ben Drake is new to the area and was shocked to see what happened near his home.

"Water gushing down street," he described. "There was a water main break halfway up the hill here and just mud ran through the street here. There was a lot of snow and ice and it was just kind of a big mess."

As crews worked to repair the break in the water line, another catastrophe happened right in front of Connor Clarke's eyes.

"I looked out window because my dad was yelling for me to look out the window and I saw the ground just start to crack and sink into the ground and then slowly got bigger," he said.

A spokesperson for the county said the sinkhole in the middle of the road was caused because of repairs being made to the water main break.

The whole disaster even affected residents down the road who had to hustle to keep mud and water from rushing into their house.

"For about two and a half hours, water, silt, mud just poured into our property just inches from our house," said Angela Skakell. "We had 30 neighbors come out and they built this dam in front of our house."

County officials said scenes like this are common right now because of the cold weather. The fluctuations in temperature cause stress on the pipes and they break.

It has been a busy week for them trying to stay on top of water main repairs throughout the area.

For this area in particular, crews are wrapping things up. The street is expected to be opened back up around midnight.

About 15 customers were without water when the pipe broke on Sunday. Now, some residents are hoping they will get assistance with the cleanup as well.