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The City of Winnipeg will begin repairing a hole in the Wolseley area a few days after firefighters rescued a woman who was trapped in it for about 40 minutes.
Wolseley resident Christine Keilback fell through the hole in front of her property on Lipton Street on Saturday night.
Lisa Marquardson, communications co-ordinator with the city’s water and waste department, said in an email Tuesday crews will begin permanent repairs at the site Thursday.
The spokesperson said the incident was linked to a lead and catch basin that had been removed. The area had been filled with gravel and covered with sod, but the lead was not capped, and some of the backfill material “may have migrated” over time, Marquardson said.
Crews put up a temporary cover and barricades to secure the area after responding to the incident Saturday.
Marquardson said the hole does not meet the definition of a “true sinkhole,” which can happen on rare occasions when the soil beneath a roadway is washed away because of issues with underground infrastructure.
She said there aren’t any records of anything like this happening in recent memory.
The city is going down its own rabbit hole, with the spokesperson saying it will investigate the issue further to see what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again.
A Winnipeg woman is grateful for the help of firefighters after she got stuck in a hole in the ground Saturday night. Her friend captured video of rescue crews pulling her out safely.
