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Water Restored After Huge Sinkhole Opens Up In South Philadelphia

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 12-inch water main break in a South Philadelphia neighborhood has caused a huge sinkhole to open up overnight. It happened on the 1200 block of Dickinson Street, around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

About 60 homes were without running water but crews were able to get service completely restored just after 5 p.m.

It's was bad good for families planning to prepare Thanksgiving meals for tomorrow.

Like a hawk, Sharon Trivarelli monitored the water department. It's not clear if she knew a thing or two about control valves or fittings but there she was.

"It's a setback, but I can deal with it," she said.

She baked the pound cakes for her three sons last night. But with no water for most of the day, the rest of Thanksgiving prep was in limbo.

"So I'll start when the water comes on and I'll bake and cook and make my stuffing and clean my turkey and do it tonight," said Trivarelli.

Ann Scola, a crossing guard, says the water department had been out here two days earlier.

"It was terrible, so hard getting the kids by, I was worrying about the kids," she said.

About Monday, the water department says  that was the first course of their trouble here at 12th and Dickinson

"The street will have to be obviously fully investigated to see what is underground, to see what took place," said Philadelphia Water Department Spokesman John DiGiulio. "There was already a leak in the street that we were notified of on Monday. We were working with leak protection to try to find that leak. Unfortunately, before we were able to find the exact leak, the street caved in."

The sinkhole has led to the closure of Dickinson Street at 12th Street and Wharton Street at Broad Street.

Officials tell CBS3 that the sinkhole will be backfilled to cover the waterlines but the hole won't completely go away for about a month.

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