A sinkhole large enough to swallow a car has opened on a street in the central Auckland suburb of St Mary's Bay, closing it to traffic since Thursday night.
The road on Hackett St has been closed off since about 5.30pm on July 23, when the hole appeared. Contractors could be seen working at the site on Monday afternoon.
The area where there was a sinkhole had previously had a large steel plate over top of it.
Residents report losing water supply when a pipe broke on Thursday night, although it was restored the same evening. The closure has disrupted road access, with residents forced to detour via Shelly Beach Rd.
Tony Skelton, who has lived in the area for more 50 years, said the overflow point was damaged in the January 2023 floods and only partially repaired since.
"It could take a car," he said. "Watercare has only had a cursory look at it, put a steel plate over it, and it's been like that for three years. Now it has collapsed."
The hole was approximately 5m long and more than a metre deep in parts.
Watercare has been approached for comment.
It's not the first time sinkholes in and around the older inner suburbs of Auckland have made headlines in recent years. In January 2025, another opened on the corner of Dunedin and New streets, revealing brickwork beneath the road before it was filled in.
Larger hollows have been blamed on ageing pipes and heavy rain.
A sinkhole on College Hill heavily disrupted Central Auckland traffic in July 2023, shortly after the region's Anniversary Weekend floods, and took months to repair.
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