Missouri sinkhole
© Missourian
A giant sinkhole opened a few feet from West Osage Street at Integram Drive Sept. 9. Public Works Commissioner Bob Brueggemann said he was called at 8 a.m. about the sinkhole. When he arrived, the ground had already collapsed, exposing a great gap of moist earth.

"I called Roy (Hinkle, street department supervisor) and told him to get as much orange safety fence as they could find," Brueggemann said. "We had to get it fenced so curious people wouldn't walk too close to the edge."

The hole, which spans 50 by 70 feet and is 23 feet deep, opened up on the property of Clayton Corporation, beneath a city of Pacific storm sewer manhole. "It appears to be a storm sewer issue, but we don't know for sure," Brueggemann said. "We're still investigating."

If there is a break in the storm sewer line, water could have been collecting underground for some time before the collapse, he said.

The manhole adjacent to the sinkhole connects to a 15- by 15-foot concrete box culvert beneath West Osage where 110 gallons of water per second was flowing into the sinkhole. "The water is flowing and the ground is still moving," City Engineer Dan Rahn said. "It could get bigger."


No persons or property were involved in the collapse, but by the time city crews worked to set fence poles and install orange safety fence around the large hole passing motorists were already parking and walking toward the depression.

"We don't want anybody to get hurt here," Brueggemann said.