Cedar Avenue in 100 Mile House will be closed for the foreseeable future after a roughly 16-foot-deep and four-foot-wide sinkhole opened up.
The sinkhole is located near the 100 Mile House District General Hospitals’ second parking lot and opened up on July 10.
Roger Hollander, the fire chief for the 100 Mile House Fire & Rescue, said that the sinkhole happened when a semi-truck was unloading milk when the road gave way.
“It appears that there was a semi-truck offloading its goods at the hospital, and just the weight of the cab actually went into the sinkhole itself,” he said. “Fortunately, the driver was able to remove himself from the sinkhole just by putting into reverse.”
Hollander said that the driver wasn’t injured and that he is unsure of the direct cause.
“There definitely is a lot of speculation whether there was erosion or weather the rain caused it and certainly I’m sure the weight of the semi-truck had a lot to do with it but’s it’s undetermined at this point.”
Hollander said that the sinkhole would not affect emergency services.
“I’d like to stress that it’s fully open at the hospital,” he said. “The ambulance station, the hospital is all open. People can come and go off of Horse Lake Road; you just can’t travel through Cedar Avenue. It’s still closed at this point, and public works and contractors are in the midst of repairing some of the infrastructures that are in the hole.”
The 100 Mile House District was unable to comment on how long Cedar Avenue will be closed for repairs.