'A growing problem': Sinkhole swallows truck tire on North End street
A sinkhole in the middle of a North End street became a neighbourhood spectacle in Winnipeg on Wednesday night.
The driver's side front wheel of a pickup truck went into the hole on Powers Street, between Bannerman and Cathedral avenues, at about 6:30 p.m.
"It keeps getting worse and it seems to be a growing problem," Jennifer Sendall, who has lived in the area for more than five years, said of the gaping hole.
Sheena Gruhn also lives nearby and said about 20 people showed up to help the truck's driver and "watch the show."
"Everybody just wanted to help the guy get the truck out before it opened up wider and swallowed him or his truck."
Gruhn said she initially reported the hole to the City of Winnipeg in the summer of 2016. By October, the hole was the size of a volleyball, and it got worse this spring, Gruhn said.
When Gruhn got home from work Wednesday, she noticed the hole had grown and she made a mental note to call the city again.
"Five minutes later, I come out and this guy's tire is in the hole," she said.
A group of onlookers soon gathered. Several people brought jacks out to help prop the vehicle up, and one of the devices fell into the hole.
Girl jumps in hole
"A little girl actually jumped down there to get it," Gruhn said. "She was about four feet tall, and she could walk around in there.... We actually lost her for a minute."
After about two hours, Gruhn's boyfriend pulled the truck out of the hole with a Jeep around 8:30 p.m. City officials later covered the hole and blocked off the area.
Gruhn said the city previously told her a manhole used to be in the place where the hole formed.
Several of her neighbours have also called 311 about the hole, yet city officials said they have no record of any complaints, Gruhn said.
"My taxes just went up for street renewal, so I'd like to see the street fixed," Gruhn said, adding she sees about five vehicles hit the hole each day.
"I used to live in River Heights, and if something like that happened, it would be fixed almost immediately. We'll see how long this takes, but it feels like because it is a lower income area that it's kind of ignored."
Between Jan. 1 and May 18 of this year, a total of 66,842 potholes were repaired, works chair Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) tweeted on Wednesday. A city spokesperson confirmed this figure as accurate.
