Photo by Benjamin R. Freed

Adams Morgan residents interrupted their afternoons to stand outside their houses gawking at the pavement across the street after a sinkhole opened up on a Biltmore Street NW sidewalk.

Although initial alerts from District agencies reported the hole as large as 25 feet deep, the cavity is only a few feet across and is measures four-and-a-half feet to the bottom, says Vic Matthews, a construction inspector with the District Department of Transportation. Along with DDOT, crews from the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, the Department of Public Works, D.C. Water, and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Officials closed off a stretch of Biltmore Street. The sinkhole, outside 1915 Biltmore, likely started caving in some time this morning, Matthews says. He adds that the house is safe for occupancy, though it is currently blocked by several bands of police tape.