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Millbrook Road reopened after sinkhole, water main break

Millbrook Road in north Raleigh has been reopened after crews completed repairs to a water main break that ruptured Friday afternoon, creating a sinkhole.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Millbrook Road in north Raleigh has been reopened after crews completed repairs to a water main break that ruptured Friday afternoon, creating a sinkhole.

Seven passengers were on a Capital Area Transit bus fell into a sinkhole in the road that the broken main created. The passengers and driver were able to escape from the bus as water rushed about them. No one was injured, and the bus was pulled from the sinkhole.

Andy Brogden, water distribution superintendent for Raleigh's Department of Public Utilities, said water main breaks are fairly common underneath the city's roads. But the size of the main that ruptured beneath Millbrook Road helped create the sinkhole, he said.

"The velocity of the water will wash away any bedding material or any material that's underneath the asphalt," Brogden said. "Once that void gets large enough and enough weight is on top of the asphalt, then it will cave in."

Police set up detours around the flooded stretch of road, between Auburn Road and Ivy Lane, and urged drivers to avoid the area while crews worked. No customers lost water service because of the break, officials said.

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