Sidewalk sinkhole and ruptured water main in Victoria

A tree stands tall despite the sidewalk having collapsed below it near Cook and Johnson streets late this morning.

The sidewalk was on a bank next to an excavation site and a portion of it has collapsed dropping six to eight feet, taking with it about 30 metres of sidewalk, a couple boulevard trees and some hydro infrastructure.

“We have a geotechnical engineer onsite looking at conditions to try to determine the exact cause,” said Brad Dellebuur, assistant director of Transportation for City of Victoria. “What’s important to the City right now is to make sure the area is safe and secure.”

It is unclear at this time if a retaining wall collapse at the construction site triggered a water main break or if a water main break caused the bank to become unstable.

Tree drops approx. 6 feet but stays standing - sinkhole at Cook and Johnson. #yyj pic.twitter.com/CPpa4sfniP

— Oak Bay News (@OakBayNews) December 29, 2017