The Sinkhole: What happened on the highway yesterday?

Highway 17 between Kenora and Vermilion Bay is fully open after a lengthy closure yesterday. 

Significant rainfall on Tuesday night led to the collapse of a culvert at Richard Lake. The culvert failure caused a sinkhole in the road approximately 8-10 feet wide and 5 feet deep.  As a result, Highway 17 was fully closed in both directions between Richard Lake Rd at MacNicol Township. 

The closure had travelers impatient for nearly 12 hours, but due to the hasty work of crews they were able to safely repair the site and let traffic flow again. 

Environment Canada says they recorded up to 101 mm of rainfall Tuesday night, which shattered rainfall records for the area. The previous record of only 20 mm, or one-fifth of what we received last night, was set back in 1992.