Boil water advisory issued after sinkhole opens in Glenside

CHELTENHAM TWP. (WTXF) - A massive sinkhole opened up in a Cheltenham Township neighborhood overnight causing major problems for residents in the area.

Parts of two front lawns and a big chunk of the sidewalk on the 700 block of Brooke Road are now gone. A toppled over tree was the only thing appearing to keep a white pickup truck from crashing to the bottom of the sinkhole.

"You could almost put that house inside that hole there," said one resident. "That's how deep it is."

Aqua Pennsylvania says they received a call form residents without water. That's when they found the sinkhole which includes a water main break at the scene, cutting supply to 65 homes. Emergency crews arrived at the scene just before 4 a.m. Wednesday.

"I heard something around 3:30 a.m. that sounded like a large thump and then kind of a 'woosh,' and I didn't think much of it until the police knocked on our door and told us to move our car," one resident told FOX 29.

Two homes were seriously affected and are now uninhabitable. One home is for sale, but the family in the second is now displaced.

"It's pretty crazy. It could've happened to anyone, and we weren't sure how far it was going to...expand," said resident Carolyn Raney.

Cheltenham Township officials have now issued a boil water advisory once water service is restored to neighboring homes. Once Aqua restores water service to customers, they must boil water or use bottled water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation until further notice. 

Workers have poured cement into the hole and have an investigation underway. Authorities are now assessing how this happened, how to get the water back on and – of course – fixing the damage to homes and the road.