A Christchurch City Council truck ploughed into a two-metre-wide sinkhole while fixing a burst water main on a street in the suburb of Linwood this afternoon.
Worcester St remains closed between Fitzgerald Ave and Stanmore Rd while muddy water from the ruptured piperecedes from pavements and people's front lawns.
A resident on the street, Mike Cox, said the water main burst shortly after midday.
The water bubbled up from the middle of the road, thickened with silt and funnelled onto several low-lying properties, including his.
"It was right at the front door. We were actually worried it would get to the floorboards, that the carpet would get wet, but we're lucky it was only millimetres away from getting that high," he said.
Cox said his back lawn is swamped and his front lawn is a "swimming pool", so he's grateful the council responded straight away to his phone call for help.
But one of the staff members who responded was caught out by the sinkhole that formed around the ruptured pipe, with their truck landing nose first.
