Sinkhole Opens Near Oxford Apartments

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – A collapsed sewer pipe has opened up a large sinkhole near two apartment complexes in Oxford.

The Oxford Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/pgPsXp ) that the concrete pipe was installed in about 1974 and was due to be replaced in 2014.

City engineer Bart Robinson says 4 to 6 inches of rain flooded roads Sunday night. That contributed to the pipe bursting Monday and opening a large hole between the Oxford Station and Cambridge Station apartments.

Robinson says a vacuum truck almost fell into a second sink hole that developed a few feet away from the first one.

Crews opened up the road between the holes, creating a gap about 40 feet wide and 14 to 18 feet deep. Robinson says the road will closed at least a week.