SUV nearly swallowed

A driver in Smithtown, N.Y., had an early wake-up call this morning when a water main break caused his SUV to nearly be swallowed whole.

The unidentified male was driving through Smithtown, a city on Long Island of more than 100,000, around 3:30 this morning when a water main burst.

A photo captured by Stringer News and posted on Twitter shows the SUV nearly vertical yet the man was able to escape on his own unharmed, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County Police Department told ABCNews.com.

The break was particularly powerful because it was horizontal, meaning the pipe split along its length, said Timothy Motz, director of communications for the Suffolk County Water Authority.

Motz said the break, which most likely happened because of cold temperatures, cut off water to around 26 homes.

“Smithtown,NY-Rough morning for driver on Mt.Pleasant Rd. after SUV disappears into sinkhole after water main break.” Stringer News (@Stringernews) tweeted that day, along with the photo of the SUV in an almost vertical position and is nearly being swallowed by the sinkhole.

As noted at ABC News that day, the incident happened at around 3:30 a.m. while the man is driving the SUV through Smithtown, a city on Long Island. A Suffolk County Police Department spokeswoman told them that the driver has successfully escaped from the SUV and was not injured.