San Francisco sinkhole: Here’s how long it could take to fix

A water main break late Sunday night near San Francisco’s Union Street shopping district sent water and mud surging from an intersection into nearby streets, flooding at least one business.

By Monday morning, a giant sinkhole had appeared at the intersection of Green and Fillmore streets, according to San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesman Joseph Sweiss.

READ MORE: San Francisco Sinkhole: Here’s the Latest

Disruption in the area is expected to last at least a week, according to PG&E worker Matt Quintana. Quintana told The Standard a gas leak had happened after underground pipes were damaged in the flooding. He said there is no danger to the public as the gas had been shut off.

PG&E spokesman Jason King later told The Standard that the utility had not found any gas leaks or outages.

“[My building] didn’t have water all last night and this morning,” said Patrick Souris, a resident who lives on the corner of Fillmore and Green streets. “Now it’s back on, but it’s dark brown.”

Souris said he was annoyed by car alarms when the flooding began and that a Range Rover was picked up and moved around 10 feet by the floodwater.

Firefighters were sent to Fillmore and Green streets after a water main break at 11:24 p.m. Sunday, with a truck arriving less than two minutes later to find the break, fire officials said.

Sweiss said crews were working overnight to repair the break in a cast-iron 16-inch water main that had been installed in 1949, as well as a nearby 8-inch water main.

A multiagency response is underway to fix the streets, and it is too early to tell if the flooding caused the sinkhole, according to Sweiss.

Images posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, show streets in the area in a state of disrepair and covered in sludge.

In another post, a resident showed a picture of the torn-up roadway with clumps washed loose at the intersection of Fillmore and Union streets. 

Sweiss said staff from the City Attorney’s Office claims division were in the neighborhood to support businesses and residents, and added that nearby customers were experiencing temporary service interruptions. Visitors are asked to avoid the area until further notice.

At Union Street Coffee Roastery, Michelle Ung told The Standard that the break apparently began near Green and Fillmore streets, sending water downhill and around a corner into her shop’s building and delaying its usual 6 a.m. opening.

“The streets have been blocked around us, with only a few neighbors walking in to get coffee,” Ung said. “We got here, and there was water and sand everywhere.”

Ung said that staff had been cleaning the whole morning but expected she would have to close by 2 p.m., six hours earlier than usual.

“We opened late, but we’re trying,” Ung said. “I don’t know what to do; it’s a business.”

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said it is rerouting its inbound and outbound 22 Fillmore and 45 Union/Stockton buses.

A gas leak after flooding last November at Union and Fillmore streets forced the evacuation of several buildings in the same neighborhood.

This is a developing story.