A sinkhole that opened Saturday at Maple and 2nd Sts. in Peabody presented a possible safety hazard over the weekend, but it was better the hole opened up when it did, Peabody councilman Jay Gfeller said.

“Any time there’s a dangerous situation, the fewer people around, the better,” he said. “Fortunately we’ve been blessed with that over the years that we haven’t had any major catastrophes.”

City employees were called to put up barricades soon after the hole was discovered.

The city’s water or sewer systems, rather than the road itself, likely caused the issue, Gfeller said.

“It’s just another form of something that started to erode and now needs to be addressed to fix the issue,” he said. “Until we find out what is going on, it’s hard to say what the overall severity is going to be.”

Contractors looked over the damage Tuesday.

The sinkhole will be more difficult to fix than a pothole because it’s not just damage to the road surface, Gfeller said.

“This will probably be a little more extensive, depending on what they find when they start investigating,” he said. “It’s probably something to do with a bigger situation with the storm drain line under the road, more than the road itself. A pothole is going to be just the surface of the road.”

Public works superintendent Lucas Larsen informed city councilmen of a potential problem with Peabody water lines at a recent meeting, but it didn’t progress until last weekend.