A burst water main in Perth’s south has caused a car to plunge into a sinkhole overnight, cutting off the water supply to nearby homes.
The sedan has fallen into a large hole in the middle of The Bridgeway, one of the key suburban roads running through Canning Vale.
The car became stuck around 4am on Tuesday after the road gave way. (ABC News)
In a statement, the Water Corporation confirmed the car became stuck around 4am after driving through floodwater following a burst water main.
“Crews were onsite within 30 minutes and promptly isolated the main, with work now underway to remove the vehicle and make repairs,” the Water Corporation said.
“Water supply is affected to around 10 nearby homes, and residents may notice discoloured water as repairs progress.”
Workers at the scene in Canning Vale, a suburb about 22 kilometres from Perth’s CBD. (ABC News)
The Water Corporation’s website showed the outages as at 11.30am were still affecting several streets in Canning Vale and Thornlie, including The Bridgeway, Gateway Boulevard and Figtree Drive.
‘Extremely rare’
The Water Corporation’s Paul Prottey said while burst pipes were not uncommon, it was rare for one to cause a sinkhole.
“With a network the size that we have across Perth, we get our leaks and bursts, like every other water scheme across the world,” he told 102.5 ABC Perth.
“But to have a car fall into a hole in the middle of a road is an extremely rare occurrence.”
The back wheels of the car were left perched right on the edge of the sinkhole. (ABC News)
Mr Prottey said it would be difficult to remove the car given how close the water pipe was to the gas main.
“We’ve got a tow truck on site, we just don’t want to remove that car until we get the [water main] isolated … we’ll just do it as carefully and safely as we can,” he said.
Mr Prottey said it was too early to say whether the incident would cause broader issues with the water network.
It is rare for burst water pipes to cause sinkholes. (ABC News)
“We’ll check the failure of the pipe once we get [the car] out and see what the cause is, so we can ascertain if that’s going to happen anywhere else and see what we can do to prevent it in the future,” he said.
‘That could’ve been anybody’
Local resident Fred Sin said it was “crazy” to see a gaping hole open up on a street he used every day to do the school run.
“Imagine if I am the one driving on the road and if this happened, it’s shocking, I have three grandkids in my car,” he said.
Fred Sin says he was “shocked” to see a sinkhole open up on the road he uses during the school run. (ABC News)
Another resident, Richard Junior, said he was surprised when his wife received a text from a friend mentioning the sinkhole on a road he used all the time.
“To see something like that, that could’ve been anybody,” he said.
He said in his 20 years of living in the suburb, he had never seen as much disruption.
“I’ve heard of sinkholes and black holes, but you know, we live in Canning Vale. It’s a first for me,” he said.
Carol and Barry Stalker said they were awoken by a loud bang in the early hours of the morning but did not realise what had happened until the next morning.
The area in front of Carol and Barry Stalker’s house was temporarily flooded. (ABC News)
“We walked out and it was unbelievable to see the car in the hole, it was a mess,” Mr Stalker said.
He said their water had been disconnected for about an hour.
No injuries were reported to St John WA and no ambulance was sent to the incident.
Traffic management is in place and drivers have been asked to avoid the area while repairs are undertaken.