Philadelphia (USA) - Suddenly the road gave way! A burst water pipe caused chaos in the US city of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).

As FOX 29 reported, the accident happened shortly after noon on Tuesday.

At around 1:30 p.m., the ground gave way in the Port Richmond neighborhood, a huge hole opened up and swallowed several parked cars. Diagnosis: burst pipe!

Before staff from the local water authority were able to plug the leak, 30 surrounding properties had been hit: all were temporarily cut off from the water supply, no one was injured.

While emergency teams on site tried to keep the damage to a minimum, a FOX 29 reporter collected entertaining voices from affected residents.

Reporter Steve Keeley found out, among other things, that one of the cars swallowed up belonged to the wife of a police officer.

The officer - himself on the scene - was calm: "Nobody was hurt, nobody was in it. It's just a car. Whatever needs to be replaced, we'll get it replaced. No big deal," said Officer Steve Williams.

Another car that had to be recovered is registered to a man who has lived in the neighborhood for seven years, but was not home at the time of the pipe burst. While he was watching the practice of his favorite baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies, his mother was taking care of his dog.

But she couldn't call her son and let him know: "One of the neighbors informed him. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to break his heart," said the US-American. In the end, the car was towed away and reparked.

Until the broken pipe has been repaired and the damage to the road rectified, residents will have to live with restrictions for the time being. The affected Birch Street has been closed.