Around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, a large sinkhole opened up beneath the intersection of Second Avenue and Lake Streets in the Inner Richmond. Several news helicopters were spotted hovering over the neighborhood on the edge of the Presidio, watching as the 22-foot wide chasm opened a portal straight to hell shut down the residential street for a few hours.

Neighbors in the area reported that the ground started sinking after a car drove over a patch of relatively new-looking pavement in the middle of the intersection. The Public Utilities Commission initially believed the sinkhole was caused when an old 21-inch sewer line beneath the street ruptured, but have not yet officially declared a cause. There were no water or sewer service disruptions in the neighborhood and as far as SFist can tell, no subterranean rivers of slime either.

District blog RichmondSF has more photos of the aftermath and NBC Bay Area has raw footage from the eyes in the sky:

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

In late February, a water main in the Outer Sunset ruptured, sending a muddy torrent of water down 15th Avenue.

[RichmondSF]
[NBCBayArea]
[ABC7]