Crews worked through the night to fill a gaping sinkhole that opened up on a Bronx street Tuesday, swallowing an entire van as severe weather slammed the tri-state area with flash floods and torrential rain, but authorities say at this point it doesn't appear that weather was a factor.
It was a disappearing act that no one expected -- a full-size white van parked on Radcliff Avenue suddenly starts to lean to the left as the pavement buckles beneath it. The entire vehicle then plunges into the ground as the street gives way.
None of it remains visible at surface level. But if you stood on the edge of the pit, you could see the van at the bottom.
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The van's owner was among those at the scene the moment it fell in. And he says he was actually happy about it.
Asked why, Antonio Papadopoulus said simply, "Because I lost my van. I don't want to be sad or mad or this ... I want to be happy."
While Papadopoulus' may be an aspirational mindset should others ever find their vans in sinkholes, people who live in the area aren't thrilled. Repair work is likely to be extensive because crews have to rebuild the entire subsurface infrastructure and restore the roadway. About 75 customers lost water service, although all but three customers had service return by Tuesday evening.
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Even once it's fixed, Morris Park residents fear it could happen again. They say another sinkhole opened up in the area a year or so ago and it took a year to fully repair that. A man who happened to walk by News 4 cameras said he wasn't there that time, but acknowledged "it's a couple of times it's happened here."
He was there Monday for the van.
"I was walking by and the car just fell over," he said. "It's crazy."
No injuries were reported.
