‘Ottawa’ Ottawa Sinkhole Attracts Gawkers, Burns up Social Media
Sinkhole selfies were the order of the day Wednesday as tourists and suddenly-at-liberty construction workers and Rideau street employees thronged the intersection at Sussex and Rideau to watch the expanding hole expand.
Fire trucks, a fleet of police cruisers, news satellite vans, a phalanx of TV cameras and even the Salvation Army jammed the intersection as spectators were repeatedly pushed back until they camped out next to the Château Laurier, which was operating on back-up power and flash lights.
Andre da Costa was sitting in his office down Rideau Street at about 10:30 a.m. when the lights suddenly went out and his computer went dark, swallowing his work.
He followed emergency vehicles to the doors of the Bay store and smelled the unmistakable odour of rotten eggs. As he was shooed back by firefighters, the sinkhole was one lane wide. After he circled the block, it was two lanes wide and there was a plume rising from the hole.