A sinkhole big enough to swallow a car appeared over the weekend in a street in the west side of Detroit
* Neighbours said the sinkhole had been a problem for weeks
* It is at least the fourth sinkhole reported in the city since January
A giant sinkhole big enough to swallow a car has appeared in the middle of a Detroit road in the latest reported case of craters opening up in the city's streets.
The 10ft hole appeared over the weekend in a road in a busy neighbourhood on the west side of the city.
It is at least the fourth time a sinkhole has been reported to have appeared in Detroit since January.
Neighbours said the sinkhole has been a problem in the street for a number of weeks, WXYZ Detroit reported.
It caved in however over the weekend and has now been taped off. Crews were today continuing attempts to repair the hole, the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department has said.
Harsh winter conditions are believed to have caused several problems for Detroit and this is at least the fourth report of a sinkhole in the city since January.
Neighbours said the sinkhole has been a problem in the street for a number of weeks
He said: 'The thinking is that it was a pipe that's failed and then caused a backlog which eventually built up and it caved.'
Just last month, with only moments between them, two cars found themselves trapped in the same sinkhole as Fox 2 television cameras captured the accidents.
Meanwhile, in March a massive sinkhole big enough to swallow five city buses opened beneath a busy Detroit street.
Inside the cavern was a criss-crossing matrix of pipes and utility lines that worried maintenance crews rushed to secure as neighbors feared natural gas leaks and interruptions in water service.
Efforts toward repairing the hole began almost immediately, but it was feared the wider flaws in the decaying city's infrastructure meant the holes could keep appearing elsewhere.
Darryl Latimer with Detroit's water department told WWJ-TV that the sinkhole was discovered while crews were sending a camera through a sewer line.
And in January, traffic came to a halt in downtown Detroit after a sinkhole opened in the middle of one of the city's main streets.
The hole originally was about twice as big as a manhole cover but eventually opened up to measure about 14 feet by 10 feet, WWJ-AM reported.
Was that "Forth" (Onward/Forward) or "Fourth" (4th)? Regardless, Detroit's plight keeps on going forth!!! (pun intended)