Sinkhole swallows car on Strawberry Street in Richmond Thursday afternoon

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A car was swallowed by a massive sinkhole on Strawberry Street in Richmond Thursday afternoon. The driver of the vehicle has since been charged with reckless driving after trying to drive through a work zone.

Strawberry Street has been shut down until further notice and is considered undrivable due to a gaping sinkhole that was initially reported to the Richmond Police Department at 1:42 p.m. on Thursday, May 2. The sinkhole had then doubled in size by 11 p.m. on Thursday as crews worked to repair it.

Strawberry Street, which is near the Richmond Department of Motor Vehicles off of West Broad Street, was originally closed off due to flooding.

Richmond Department of Public Works crews arranged cones and barriers on the street to stop people from driving cars onto the road and allow them to work safely.

As crews were working to fix the flooding issue, an unidentified driver went through the cones and didn’t travel more than a few feet before a sinkhole opened in the middle of the street.

Richmond police officers said when they arrived at the scene after receiving the call about the sinkhole at 1:42 p.m. Thursday, they saw the car sticking straight out of the hole.

According to police, the car was stuck in the sinkhole for just under an hour and no one was hurt.

Melissa Bentley and Mikalya Durant live nearby and said they couldn’t believe what they saw on the street Thursday afternoon.

“It would make me really, really cautious on roads that do have potholes and, you know, because you never know,” Bentley said. “One of those might open up. So, it makes me real cautious about it. Way more cautious than I already was with driving.”

Officials with the Richmond Department of Public Works said they will be on scene working to get the sinkhole repaired and Strawberry Street re-opened. Until then, drivers are encouraged to use other routes.

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