A flood of water from a burst water main has opened up a large hole in a Newcastle suburban road.

The main burst in Albert Street, Wickham around 4:30am (AEST) on Thursday morning and a parked car slipped into the cavity.

The car's owner Simon West said he watched his vehicle sink into the hole over a couple of hours.

"I've had the worst luck. Three months ago I was rear-ended and now I've woken up and my car looks like it's gone down a sinkhole, so yeah, very bad luck," he said.

He said it would mean the day off work.

"I sent a message in saying there was a burst water main, but I was not believed until I sent a picture of my car sticking up out of the road," Mr West said.

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Mr West said burst water mains were a common occurrence in the suburb, given the age of the area's undeground water pipes.

"It's pretty notorious for burst water main problems and issues like that," he said.

"I think it's about 80 years old, the plumbing in the area."

Hunter Water works to repair damage

Hunter Water executive manager, Jeremy Bath, said in total three cars were damaged by the burst main.

He admitted the underground pipes were prone to breakages.

"Wickham, being quite an old area, the pipes are of a decent age," Mr Bath said.

"That said, those pipes were checked in the not-too-distant past for breaks and there was nothing detected.

"Unfortunately, with breaks, you often can't determine the condition of a pipe until it breaks.

"We commit to inspecting every single centimetre of our 10,000 kilometres of water mains within the space of every five years.

"We have technology where people are able to listen, and they're what we call 'water whisperers' and they're able to walk along the street and hear if there's a break or a hairline fracture."

Around 40 properties in the street were without water for several hours while the main break was repaired.