A sinkhole on a Maryland road Tuesday morning almost completely absorbed a family's car
Darwin Mendoza says he was in the car with his 8-year-old son, and two daughters, a 4-year-old and a 6-month-old baby, when it hit the hole as he was backing out of his driveway. The hole was hidden by water.
Mendoza says at first, only one tire sank, and that he and his children got out of the car. They then watched as the sinkhole got bigger and swallowed the car whole.
'They were running to leave. Thank God they didn't put their seat belts on. It helped them get out of the car,' neighbor Luz Martinez told NBC Washington.
Multiple nearby homes, including that of Martinez, suffered flooding, according to NBC Washington.
Around five homes were forced to evacuate, according to WUSA9.
Photos from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) show that the sinkhole also left the front of a separate vehicle in water from the hole.
The sinkhole is located in Bladensburg on Edmonston Road and is due to a water main breaking, according to WSSC.
The agency tweeted early Tuesday morning that there was a 'Water main partial shutdown. Next step is to drain the hole remove cars and dig out around the break.'
The water main responsible is also close to 100 years old.
WSSC tweeted '#WSSC Broken 12" water main on Edmonston Rd - 90 years old. Put in ground 1925. Calvin Coolidge was prez. #aginginfrastructure.'
77 people do not have water - and the two cars were cleared from the sinkhole, the agency said.
The sinkhole broke open in Bladensburg on Edmonston Road, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) said
WSSC spokesman Jerry Irvine told The Washington Post 'This happened to break right underneath where a car was parked.
'When it broke, the car was right above it. It dropped right into the hole.'
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