Sinkholes have a weird way of upsetting a viewer's sense of order in the world.
- RELATED ARTICLES
- Philadelphia Water Department working at frantic pace to make service calls
- City controller: Streets Department misses 83 miles of street paving, adding to pothole epidemic
- Old City construction worker rescued from sinkhole after street collapses
You see a gigantic hole in the street and it makes you think you've survived some kind of earthquake. The reality is that infrastructure can fail for any number of reasons.
Around noon on Friday, neighbors on Fishtown's tiny Taggert Street — a single block connecting E. Norris and E. Dauphin Streets — were stunned to see a giant sinkhole form outside one of the rowhomes.
"Tons of rats were flying out of the hole," one witness told PhillyVoice.
Another neighbor and longtime Fishtown resident said the incident may have been related to a plumbing issue.
Diane Taylor, a neighbor on parallel Ritter Street, has a garage on Taggert Street right in front of the sinkhole. She isn't happy about how the city handles these and similar issues.
Philadelphia Gas Works and the Philadelphia Police Department were both at the scene Friday afternoon as maintenance crews worked to resolve the situation.. Six homes were evacuated and officials said the sinkhole measured approximately 30 x 30 feet.
Attempts to reach the Philadelphia Streets Department were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
PhillyVoice photographer Thom Carroll contributed to this report.