A snowplow was removed from a frigid sinkhole in New Jersey on Tuesday.
NJ.com reported that the truck was driving on Wordsworth Lane in Lopatcong Township around 7:30 a.m. when the street caved in. The driver was able to climb to safety, and call it in to local officials.
The hole's opening was less than 20-feet wide, however it appeared the cavern extended beneath a patch of road that hadn't collapsed. That turned the recovery mission into a 6-hour ordeal.
"It was a tricky one," said Jake Unangst, who co-owns Stew's Auto Body in Washington. "You figure you had about 30 feet of road with no dirt under it. It was a big hole. I've never seen one that big."
Unangst said the road was too fragile to call in a crane, so they used two tow trucks to slowly pull the truck out of the sinkhole.
Residents reported that they had lost water service the night before as a deep freeze set in, and a neighbor said he saw water gushing beneath the sunken plow before it was removed.
The water was shut off before the truck rescue, and Warren County Hazmat and Elizabethtown Gas were on the scene to make sure all potential hazards were considered before and during the tow.
"When I took the call I couldn't understand what they were saying, you think how can a truck be stuck in a sinkhole. When I got down there it was the surprise of my life. It's hard to believe, but it happens," said Unangst.
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