Sink Hole Closes Biltmore Street in Adams Morgan

by Prince Of Petworth March 12, 2013 at 12:45 pm 39 Comments

@DCPoliceDept tweets around 12:30pm:

“Street Closure:1900 blk of Biltmore St NW due to a sink hole. Streets closed19th & Biltmore/Biltmore St&CliffbournePl NW/Cliffbourne&Calvert”

From Alert DC:

“MPD reports a large sink hole in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. The sink hole is described as 25 feet deep and expanding from east to west. Biltmore Street is closed between 19th Street and Cliffbourne Pl NW. Please avoid the area.”

If anyone grabs a photo please send to princeofpetworth(at)gmail

Thanks to all who sent photos:

photo-1

Tim writes:

“It wasn’t huge but they were towing the cars that were in the immediate vicinity.”

Philip writes:

“Tiny sink hole. Dc police and fire are on scene. Towing cars too. Everyone seems calm but nobody is allowed on the street itself near the hole.”

Close up from Lydia:

peachykeen

What’s up with all these sink holes popping up all over the place?
- Anonymous
  
  All two of them? It’s gotta be either global warming or the fiscal cliff.
  - Anonymous
    
    No, it’s C*H*U*Ds.
  - peachykeen
    
    Nationally asshat. Go have a seat somewhere.
    - Anonymous
      
      I don’t even know what this means but I’m assuming it wasn’t meant to be nice.
      - peachykeen
        
        Apologies…I took out my work related frustrations on you Anonymous. Name calling is never good (even if the person you called a name doesnt know what the name means. Forgive me? Ill give you a case of Bartles and James. :)
      - soozles
        
        It was still sorta funny…
- zero_sum
  
  They are more common in areas built on top of limestone deposits (hence why most sinkholes happen in Florida, the southern part of the US, and Mexico). I’m assuming this is due to the torrential downpour we had today.
  - peachykeen
    
    Interesting.
    I did not know that.
Anonymous

Or the gays- you know we have a lot of power over disasters, natural and unnatural alike.
wasonh

Fracking?
emmaleigh504

Is this the same one I couldn’t find after Sandy?
- ebgb
  
  No, that one was on Champlain (the street that runs behind 18th St in Adams Morgan, where the parking garage is).
Anonymous

Holey smokes
- david
  
  No….just a sink hole.
  
  Holey Smokes are found here at www istherewhitesmoke com
  
  Selecting a pope…and the sinkhole in AdMo in the same day – there must be some linkage!
  - Anonymous
    
    you’re funny
- Anonymous
  
  anybody remember the smoke monster from Lost? anybody?
Ward One Resident

The city’s infrastructure is more than 100 years old. Some of the waste water lines are still brick (as was the one that created the sinkhole at Champlain and Kalorama about 18 months ago). It can only take so much.
Joe

Fox news did say it is sinkhole season. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
mickeyfickymix

what do you mean towing cars? where are they being towed too? City impound lot?
- dat
  
  most likely just around the corner.
- peachykeen
  
  One would think they would put them on a neighboring street and I hope they are but you know how these tow truck folks do.
- mickeyfickymix
  
  my car was once towed for “safety” concerns before ( a while back). $112 later, I received my car back from the tow yard. I spent more hours fighting it with city hall then it was actually worth
AnonymousBrown

Might that sink hole be caused by the removal/death of an old tree and its roots?

I don’t know myself, just asking because it is close to a tree box-
- Anonymous
  
  that’s what i was thinkin
Anonymous

“MPD reports a large sink hole in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. The sink hole is described as 25 feet deep and expanding from east to west. Biltmore Street is closed between 19th Street and Cliffbourne Pl NW. Please avoid the area.”

That does not look that big.
- bruno
  
  Not yet.
- Prince Of Petworth
  
  It must be bigger beneath the surface
  - Anonymous
    
    This same sinkhole opened up during Sandy. Surface area is the same but it’s much deeper this time.
    - bruno
      
      Could be something old and buried (like the remains of a house) are rotting and the ground is sagging.
Anonymous

All I can say is, if you want to survive, wear scuba gear and keep your Lifealert(TM) around your neck.
Jesse

It’s the INKlings!
Anonymous

Too many bikes in the neighborhood. Bikes lead to sinkholes, it was proven in Finland.
monkeyrotica

This happend on Obama’s watch, so I blame communism and the culture of entitlement.
- ET
  
  And the Community Reinvestment Act.
Anonymous

“The Sinkhole” would be a good name for a bar.
- bruno
  
  I’d think twice about that….. might not be a big draw when you think about it.
pdmtp

“Yeah, I got fired from my job writing weather bulletins after ‘Snowquester,’ so now I’m writing tweets for the Alert DC.”
NaClH2o

Decaying root system gave way for sure.

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