Surreal pics show trucks sinking into NYC streets as monster heat wave seems to ‘melt' pavement

New York Post

3 days ago

New York streets seem to be buckling under the intense heat smothering the city with dramatic photos showing a bus broken through a Long Island parking garage — and a firetruck sinking into a Manhattan street as record-setting tempts broil the Big Apple.
The first incident happened in North New Hyde Park Tuesday afternoon — where temps topped around 99 degrees Fahrenheit — as a bus turned onto the exposed top level of a parking garage, but then plunged through the roadway as the ground opened beneath it.
'With everything going on I thought Iran was here,' said garage attendant Ricky Cody, who heard a loud bang as the bus' rear end sank into the broken blacktop.
4 A large bus broke through the pavement at a parking garage in North New Hyde Park during the heat wave Tuesday
Peter Gerber
'We got calls going 'Oh my god, oh my god! What's going on?'' he said. 'You don't really know. You hear a loud bang, and you don't expect something like that to happen when the whole day cars are coming in no problem.'
The bus was left lodged in the parking lot with its front end jutting up into the air, dramatic photos show, but no passengers were on board during the accident and the driver was able to exit safely.
Then in downtown Manhattan Wednesday — where temps peaked around 96 degrees Fahrenheit — a firetruck became stuck in the ground after the asphalt appeared to turn to quicksand around one of its wheels.
The mired engine was cordoned off as bemused — and sweating — passersby looked on, before eventually being towed out.
4 The bus was left with its rear end lodged in the ground and its nose standing on end. Nobody was hurt in the incident
Peter Gerber
But it's a sight that's not unheard of in summer months, according to Jim McGowan, whose nearly 100-year old company John McGowan & Sons paved the parking lots at the Mets' Citi Field.
'On a hot day things can become so soft and malleable where a vehicle can sink into the asphalt. It can happen,' McGowan told The Post, explaining that blacktop can reach up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit under the sun on a particularly hot day.
'It's just because of the direct sunlight and the heat of the day,' he said, adding that it's likely there were already faults or cavities beneath the roadways where the vehicles broke through — and that the weight of a vehicle on top of the softened pavement became too much.
'It could have been a void under the asphalt that was there, and with the heat the asphalt became soft and malleable, and it just sank right through that section, and it took the hot temperature and the sun,' McGowan said.
4 A firetruck was left stuck in the ground in Manhattan on Wednesday. The city said it was caused by a sink hole
Peter Gerber
4 Experts say intense heat can weaken the pavement overtop faults like sink holes, sometimes leaving cars stuck
Peter Gerber
Incidents of pavement failing under heat are fairly rare, McGowan said, but that this week alone he's read about several incidents across the country where similar things have happened.
From the Dakotas to Nebraska, Colorado and Missouri, roadways have been splitting, buckling and breaking as an intense heat dome bakes the country, images from KYFR TV show.
The East Coast has been hit particularly hard by the heat, with temps persisting in the high 90s but cracking the 100 degree mark in places like New Jersey and JFK International Airport.
New York City's Department of Transportation confirmed the firetruck incident was the result of a sinkhole.