Houston Public Works crews are working to fix a partial street collapse along Fondren Road. Parts of the street disintegrating created a massive sinkhole Friday.
Houston Public Works
Houston Chronicle
By Kennedy Sessions
Updated
Houston Public Works is asking residents to avoid the 2400 block of Fondren Road near Woodway in west Houston after parts of the street collapsed Friday morning, creating a giant sinkhole along the northbound lanes. It's still unclear what created the sinkhole and how exactly the road disintegrated. In an alert tweet Friday morning, the city department said they are working
to understand how the sinkhole formed.
"#HouPublicWorks is investigating a street collapse at the NB lanes in the 2400 block of Fondren near Woodway. Our team is working to determine what caused the collapse & what repairs are needed. Both lanes of Fondren are closed. We’ll provide more details once we learn more," the city department said.
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According to video footage obtained by KHOU reporter Jason Miles, the sinkhole started to form in a grassy area on the side of the street before it began to expand to the road. Miles tweeted another update around 2 p.m. that showed the sinkhole had spread since the city's initial alert at noon.
In addition to Houston Public Works, city officials, both Houston Fire Department Chief Sam Pena and District G Houston City Council Member Mary Nan Huffman, urged residents to stay away from the deteriorated roads and stay safe as well. Parts of Fondren and surrounding streets are closed for residents' safety while city department crews mend the hole. Houston Public Works did not respond to Chron's request for comment Friday.
Friday's incident in Houston is the latest example of a large road collapse in the region. In May a monstrous sinkhole in Galveston swallowed the front half of an orange SUV, leaving a local man to crawl out of his vehicle through a window.