A sinkhole that opened up in a road in Taipei on Saturday night was caused by damage and leakage from a nearby ditch, the city government said yesterday, adding that repair work is expected to be completed in two days.
Officials said the city government received a report at about 8pm that a road had collapsed near Minsheng E Road Sec 2 and immediately dispatched staff to the site and notified the pipeline engineering unit to investigate the cause.
The sinkhole was about 1m3, the Taipei New Construction Office said.
Photo: Screen grab from Taipei City Councilor Yen Juo-fang’s Facebook page
After the area was excavated, it was found that a nearby drainage ditch was damaged, and the water that flowed out of it had washed away the soil underground, creating the sinkhole, the office said.
The office said that it had notified the Hydraulic Engineering Office to repair the drainage ditch.
The hole had been filled road was being resurfaced, it added.
The Hydraulic Engineering Office said the repair work is expected to be completed in two days.
Until then, there would be a temporary ban on traffic at the intersection, but traffic would be restored at the end of each work day, it said.
Late on Saturday, Taipei City Councilor Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said on Facebook that it was the fourth road to collapse in less than 100 days after a sinkhole opened up right next to a construction site in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) in May.
A sinkhole that measured 15m by 3m on the surface and was 3m deep opened up on Chongde Street on May 13. A segment of Nanjing W Road collapsed last month, followed by another road collapse near Nangang Road Sec 3 at 6:42pm on Saturday.
The Nangang Road sinkhole affected an underground parking area and created a hole about 2m3.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君) yesterday called on the city government to inspect the roads near the Minsheng E Road and areas that have been reported as high-risk areas.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) on Facebook yesterday said that the damage was caused by extreme weather.
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