Sinkhole closes Paseo Del Mar in San Pedro

SAN PEDRO, LOS ANGELES

Engineers were on the scene all day Thursday trying to figure out what's causing the mess that shut down the thoroughfare. A giant sinkhole started in July and culminated Monday in a volatile geographic event.

The closure of Paseo Del Mar started with slight divots in the road.

"I started noticing it a while ago, actually about a couple months ago, just a little dip here and there," said San Pedro resident Bobby Oreb. "It was right around here but I didn't notice that crack there until last week."

"We've been jogging here almost every day and I've been noticing how the road has been becoming uneven and it's been lifting up on over there," said San Pedro resident Joel Abella.

The cracks from the sinkhole prompted the city to shut down the road while engineers and various city and county departments work on figuring out its cause.

"We are still investigating it," said Lawrence Cuaresma, San Pedro Bureau of Engineering. "I'm hesitant to speculate on what it could be. But we are trying our best to figure out what the cause is and to determine what the appropriate course of action is."

For now the road is closed indefinitely.

"Well, they had some cliff droppage about a year ago, I think," said San Pedro resident John Shanahan. "So I'm concerned that more of the road gets lost."

And those sums say they're worried about the earth's movement that has ripped apart their street and continues to grow. Others are rolling with the punches.

Some local neighbors say they think it has something to do with a sewer line, but engineers said they think it is strictly a natural phenomenon.

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