Sinkholes plague Toronto as melting snow turns city to muck
It's sinkhole season in the City of Toronto once again, my friends, so be careful driving around out there (though, to be fair, you can never really tell when a road's about to give out and swallow up your car).
A local motorist learned this the hard way early Monday morning after getting his Range Rover stuck in a hole near King and Church Streets.
Woke up to a giant sinkhole outside my window. Happy Monday y'all! pic.twitter.com/swuefJLqBF
— Paolo Zinatelli (@paoloz5) February 4, 2019
The driver was unharmed and the vehicle eventually removed, but Court Street remains closed off out of concern that the hole, which Police say is approximately 10 by six feet wide, could open up even further.
Hazard: Church St/ Court St
— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) February 4, 2019
- reports of a large sinkhole in the road
- vehicle partially in the hole
- units responding @TPS51Div #GO217765^adc
Also in Monday morning delights is a roughly two-foot-wide sink hole that formed on Bloor Street West near Queen's Park before 9 a.m.
Police are asking motorists to please avoid the area.
— Babs (@AquaBirdie) February 4, 2019
Drivers who can't avoid the growing number of sinkhole-ridden areas in Toronto are finding conditions to be tough on their vehicles.
@311Toronto FYI large pothole/sinkhole forming south on Sheppard Ave W at Arrow Rd, curb lane. Hit it on the way to work and now my wheel is damaged. pic.twitter.com/4FTQ2HB5JH
— Nico (@nnovembre) February 4, 2019
And that's just where the snow thaw-related headaches begin this time around.
If you don’t get splashed by a car driving through a puddle in Toronto today, then you’re not living!
— Mackay Taggart (@mackaytaggart) February 4, 2019
There's also the issue of cars splashing puddles up onto pedestrians (though apparently some people kind of like it?)
Just watched two strangers get splashed by the same cab on the curb, glance up only to smile and giggle at one another like small kids. Meet cute realities
— jvmiecommon (@jvmiecommon) February 4, 2019
There's the annual surfacing of feces that nobody bothered to clean up because how can you even tell what's hiding under 10 inches of snow?
The snow is melting in Toronto which is a good time to promote enforcing the death penalty for people who don't pick up after their dogs.
— Richard Whittall (@RWhittall) February 3, 2019
Ice is falling from buildings...
Ice is falling from buildings in downtown Toronto today. Heads up! Literally. @weathernetwork pic.twitter.com/GjjbWFBNUL
— Mark Robinson (@StormhunterTWN) February 3, 2019
And sometimes landing on motor vehicles, like this unfortunate Canada Post van.
Be careful of ice falling #torontotransit pic.twitter.com/XT1GUEjEF0
— Transit Now (@TransitNowApp) February 4, 2019
Last but not least, we have wet, messy buildings.
It's raining inside a condo building at 39 Brant St. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/p7yo7HsJOZ
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 4, 2019
Video footage sent in by a resident of one King West condo building shows water coming from a ceiling in the lobby, and the building's stairways are terrifying in a Titanic-the-movie way.
Serious flooding happening at a condo building at 39 Brant St. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/JJ07ArDeDP
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 4, 2019
It is not yet clear if the flooding was caused by an abundance of melting ice or a burst pipe somewhere in the building.
Either way, it's a perfect metaphor for the city itself right now: Wet, gross and uncomfortable to be around, but relatively warm, so we'll take it.
