WTF?!?! Pothole on Almeda Road grows into giant sinkhole

I know the potholes are bad in Downtown, but this is just really sad...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/1648582

Nov. 5, 2002, 7:06PM

No one in the Almeda Plaza area in far southwest Houston paid much attention to the little pothole that formed on Almeda Road last weekend. Potholes are a given after as much rain as Houston's gotten lately.

"I noticed it Sunday, when I went to the store," said Charlie Jones, who lives on Dragonwick in Almeda Plaza. "Then Monday, I thought it looked bigger when I got home than it had when I went to work."

By today, the little pothole had grown into a monstrous sinkhole, approximately 60 feet by 70 feet and 11 feet deep.

Almeda Road will be closed from Airport to Tidewater indefinitely because of the monster more than big enough to swallow a car.

Jones said homes in his neighborhood did not flood during recent heavy rain, although streets did. He and his neighbors believe the rain washed dirt out from under the pavement to cause the sinkhole.

Gary Norman, a spokesman for Houston's Department of Public Works and Engineering, said Jones and his neighbors could be right but, "There's just no way to know. It's too wet there."

Employees have cut off water to the area, Norman said, and are trying to empty the water-filled sinkhole so they can see what's causing the problem.

Beneath the sinkhole are an 84-inch sanitary sewer line, and a 24-inch water main, Norman said.

"If it was the sanitary sewer line, we would know immediately," Norman said. "That's still flowing fine."

Once all the water is pumped out of the hole, he said, employees will be able to determine whether the water main is leaking.

Norman said the employees hoped to have water service restored to the area by last night.

"I sure hope so," said Jones. "I got a yard full of water, but it won't flush my toilet."