Sinkhole surprises Paradise Hills neighbors after recent storm

No one saw it happen. Most people didn’t even know it was there. However, sometime after Monday’s storm, a large sinkhole appeared in the hillside behind Jeffrey Vidal’s Paradise Hills house.

“I was surprised. I was like, ‘Are you sure you got the right house,’” Vidal said after NBC 7 showed him the large hole in his backyard. “Oh, my God. That hole is probably, I'd say 50 feet."

“As a good citizen, I reported on the Get It Done app in San Diego,” neighbor Phil Rosenberg said. “The whole thing could come down onto this road.”

Rosenberg was disappointed when the app rejected his report because the hole sits on private property.

“They kick the can down the road, say not our problem, it's on private property. It'll be your problem when this collapses down onto this road,” Rosenberg said from the base of the hill.

Vidal climbed his hill to inspect the hole. Inside, he found a corrugated metal pipe that either broke or rotted off. It led him to believe the pipe was a part of the city of San Diego’s storm drain system.

“Every year they (the city) come to my house and they're like, ‘Hey, do you have a manhole back here in the back of your house because we're supposed to clean it?’ And I'm always like, ‘No, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen it.’ Well, today we found it,” Vidal said.

He said he’d place a call immediately. NBC 7 also sent video and pictures of the sinkhole and its location to the city of San Diego. No response was received as of Friday afternoon.

In the meantime, Vidal said he’s going to take steps to make sure no one gets hurt.

“Concerned about my neighbors, for sure. Neighbors and kids. I'm going to try to put some signs up here, you know, to be careful. No trespassing.”

Rosenberg hopes the city responds quickly.

“Why would you wait until something bad happens when you could have done something about it to begin with, to prevent it from being bad like that,” he said while pointing at the hole.