Sinkhole traps van in Maunawili; second one opens near Salt Lake Elementary
Board of Water Supply crews responding to two sinkholes Thursday night on Oahu: a large trench in Salt Lake and a smaller one in residential Maunawili that trapped a van.
No injuries were reported in connection with the sinkholes.
The larger sinkhole is about eight feet wide and seven feet deep on Ala Lilikoi Street, in front of Salt Lake Elementary School. It was reported 8:30 p.m., BWS spokesman Keoni Mattos said.
The agency’s crews noticed a nearby patch in the street and traced it back to Sept. 15 road work to repair a water main leak. However, Mattos said there’s no way to tell whether that leak in any way contributed to the sink hole. The trench was compacted and repairs completed by 5:15 a.m., so school traffic wasn’t affected, he added.
The second sinkhole, which Mattos described as minor and only about a foot deep, resulted from a water main break in the 1200 block of Aloha Oe Drive in Maunawili.
Flooding “caused a lot of mud and the vehicle just sunk” about a foot down and had to be towed out, Mattos said. Nine BWS customers went without water service until about 8 a.m., he added.
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Crews are expected to be working to repair the street until this afternoon, Mattos said