SINKHOLE
An SUV was nearly swallowed by a sinkhole on Easton's southside.

Watch this surveillance video that shows the ground cracking as the car drives towards a stop sign.


The end of the SUV ends up below ground.

"All you hear is this loud scratch and boom, kinda sounded like a garbage can going into the back of a garbage truck," said Tanya Rinebold, who witnessed the accident.

The ground opened up near the intersection of James and East Kleinhans Street around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

"Oh, it's falling, it's falling," said Rinebold.

An hour later, the black suburban was nearly vertical, with the wipers still on and smoke coming out of the tailpipe.

The sounds of water could be heard gushing under the street where the car was stuck.

Neighbors say luckily the driver, who lives in the area, was able to get out.

"I was screaming on the street to make sure nobody was in there. Everybody was safe," said witness Demary Flores.

Neighbors say they noticed brown water hours before the sink hole opened up.

The city of Easton says a water main break is to blame.

"When these houses were built, they said they were built on sinkholes," said Flores. "So, that's not very, that's why the insurance for these houses in this area is a little higher than anywhere else. So, we are kinda aware of the sinkholes, but we never expected something like this."

Flores has lived on James Street for 10 years and says while very surprising, she's glad the driver of the SUV made it out safely and his children weren't in the car when this happened.