Truck partially swallowed by Esquimalt sinkhole

An Esquimalt family was in for a shock when they backed out of their driveway Tuesday morning.

Water had been flooding Isbister Street since early that morning, bubbling up and pouring out of cracks in the street. Still the road was usable, and around 10 a.m. Sue McCartney and granddaughter Freya Perfect left for an outing.

Only moments after entering the cul de sac, McCartney’s truck starting sinking. Initially McCartney thought a tire had popped.

“They backed out and boom it just caved in,” said Sue’s husband, Mike McCartney.

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Sue and Freya joked they helped crews locate the source of the flooding.

“My grandma got out and said, ‘we found the leak,’” Freya said.

Sue laughed. “Well, they actually found the leak later,” she said.

After the truck hit the sinkhole, crews uncovered the entirety of the hole and vacuumed out the water.

At first, a tow truck was going to be called in to get the truck out of the sinkhole, but crews told McCartney they were concerned about the stability of the street. They put down planks and drove the truck out.

By Wednesday morning the City of Victoria had repaired the water main break and put a temporary patch on the sinkhole. Tara Zajac, manager of communications for the Township of Esquimalt, says crews will do the final repair “in the future as resources and existing workloads allow.”

The McCartneys say there was minimal damage to the truck and no one was hurt.

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