Large sinkhole opens up in San Francisco during storm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A large sinkhole opened up in San Francisco during Wednesday morning's storm. Crews are making repairs at 6th Ave. and Lake St. in the city's Inner Richmond District. It's the second sinkhole in the area in the past two years.

The city's water and sewer pipes are more than 100 years old. So they are starting to be a cause for concern. Crews will be working throughout the night to shore up or replace the pipes before they close up the sinkhole.

Neighbors say they've been trying to avoid a patched over piece of asphalt on Lake St. for weeks, which is where Wednesday's sinkhole developed.

"The city knows there's a problem and hasn't done anything about it and now this is what we have," said resident Tom Egan.

"We're trying to do 10 or 15 miles per year," said Jean Walsh with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "Miles. So, you know, block by block."

Police say a driver's tire fell through the asphalt on Wednesday morning. She was not injured, but the accident set off a chain of events involving a 110-year-old water pipe and an aging sewer system.

"When a sewer pipe collapses that has a lot of storm water in it, not sewage, it had storm water in it, when that collapses it pulls the roadway, sort of sucks the roadway into it," Walsh said. "And that that compromised the street, and sort of left a water pipe sort of hanging there exposed," Walsh said.

When that water pipe burst, resident Marsha Chisholm felt the effects.

"Around 8:30 or so, the water went off," she said. "I knew right away. I called some neighbors."

Suyash Joshi watched the repairs from his window and went outside for a closer look.

"Scary thing is like, is it gonna be me next?" he said. "Or who's gonna be next in the sinkhole?"

In May of last year at 2nd Ave. and Lake St., just four blocks away, another sinkhole opened up. Mark Farrell is the district's supervisor

"I think we're going to look at the entirety of Lake St. right now," he said. "Obviously, two incidents within a short span is something where we need to look at the entire corridor."

.

Many pipes in the city's sewer system are a century old. The first phase of a 20-year, multi-billion dollar replacement project is underway.

PHOTOS: Strong rain and winds hit the Bay Area

Send us your photos and video of the thunder and lightning. You can email them to uReport@kgo-tv.com or upload them here on our uReport page or directly through the ABC7 News and ABC7 Weather apps.

And take a look at our Live Doppler 7 HD radar here.