Big Sinkhole Swallows 3 Cars, Injures One Driver In Chicago

A monster sinkhole yawned open on Chicago's South Side early Thursday, swallowing three cars and injuring a driver.

The crater opened at around 5 a.m. on a residential street in the South Deering neighborhood and quickly grew from about 20 feet to 40 feet, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Two parked cars were swallowed immediately, while the third, a silver pickup, slid in after the driver approached and the road beneath him buckled.

The driver, Merko Krivokuca, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and treated for some "scratches," his father told the Tribune. City officials said the sinkhole opened after a water main dating from 1915 broke during an all-night rain storm. The storm pummeled the city with torrential rains and caused widespread flooding.

Only the tips of the cars could be seen poking out of the massive crater as hardhats worked to pump water from areas around the hole to prevent it from opening wider. 

Ola Oni, who lives on the block, told the Tribune she was getting ready to leave for work when her car suddenly sunk into the earth.

"It could have happened to me, I am lucky, I'm happy," Oni said. "In this kind of neighborhood, I don't think this should happen," she said.

In February, a Florida man was killed when a 60-foot deep sinkhole opened beneath his bed while he was sleeping. A search for Jeff Bush, 37, was called off after three days after authorities said the sinkhole was too unstable to continue.