HOUSTON — An HISD school bus driver was caught off-guard by a giant hole in the street near Sims Bayou in southeast Houston. The bus got stuck at the intersection of Swallow Street and Sims Drive early Friday morning.
A neighbor said the kids were taken off the bus and HISD confirmed they were all OK.
"From a distance, the bus looked pretty tilted, so I was worried it was going to completely tilt over, but it didn't," she told us. "And whatever machine they pushed it out with, got the bus out pretty quickly."
The woman, who didn't want to give her name, said the hole was there Thursday evening.
"My first reaction was I wonder why they didn't put a big metal thing over it last night, and I know the cones were there but for the bus, I think it was hard for them to see," she told us.
KHOU 11's Michelle Choi went to the scene to check it out after receiving a tip from a viewer. She said water could be seen gushing from a burst pipe in the hole.
Houston Public Works crews said an underground water leak caused the road to cave in. They patched it up until full repairs can be made.
Police estimated the cave-in to be around 10 feet wide and 12 feet deep.
Meanwhile, neighbors said aging infrastructure is a major concern for the since this wasn’t the only leak they’ve seen in the area. They’re hoping the city will keep that mind moving forward.
"I'm hoping this is going to be the start of them fixing things, because you see what happens when we don't address it then you get sinkholes and it becomes a bigger deal."