sinkhole
© Robert Holden/Christina WilkinsonA portion of 69-11 58 Road in Maspeth collapsed Friday, forcing out the residents of that house and neighboring 69-13, right.
A sinkhole that opened up in the driveway between two houses on 58th Road in Maspeth forced at least a dozen residents from their homes and prompted Con Edison to cut power to part of the block on Friday.

The hole is in the walkway between 69-11 and 69-13 58 Road, located on the north side of a block between 69th Street and 69th Place, just south of the Long Island Expressway. Vacate orders were issued for both of those houses.

Danielle Maher and her husband have owned 69-11 for more than three years. SHe said said that her uncle had heard cracking sounds in the wall of the basement some time between 2:30 and 3 p.m.

"He called me outside to take a look and I same the hole," she said. "I ran into the house to grab the baby and the dogs. I didn't even make it out of the house when I heard it collapse, then I called my husband."

Her daughter's crib had been in the area that collapsed, she added.

Someone standing on the driveway could see into the basement of the house. City workers shored up the structure with wooden braces.

The western end of the one-way street was blocked off Friday afternoon by a police car. The Fire Department, Buildings Department, Department of Environmental Protection and Red Cross were all on scene.

Alfredo Quintero, who rents thew top floor of 69-11 with two roommates and his dog, said the Red Cross would be assisting them at least for Friday night.

"I was home and I heard the noise," he said. "I looked outside and they were telling me to get out."

While separated by a concrete walkway, 69-11 and 69-13 are attacked to other houses. As of early Friday evening, both had vacate orders posted in their front windows but the houses attached to them did not.

Quintero said Buildings Department officials had not yet been able to give them an estimate as to when they would be able to go in and retrieve their belongings.

Officials from the Department of Buildings and Red Cross volunteers on the scene said they could not comment on the incident.

A longtime resident of the block said sinkholes have existed there for some time and been the subject of multiple calls to 311, though the collapse only happened today. There is at least one other in the immediate area, in the street in front of 69-09, the source said.