WATERVILLE SINKHOLE

In the ground, caused by a rush of water, remains.

Newschannel two's jason powles takes us back to the collapsed culvert at the schoolhouse apartments....and looks into what's being done to fix it.

In the early morning hours of november 1st the runoff from the heavy halloween rains were too much for a culvert along route 12 to handle.

The superintendent of public works for the village of waterville got the 5am call.

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None .

None jamie bechy - superintendent of public works, waterville 9:39:26 there was a car one car was in one car was on its way and type scenario but by the end of the day before they were moved both cars have gone in it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and the water was above the structure that was here at the time just below on the other side of the road just below the sidewalk level which is something that's really unseen in this area.

1:35 pierce: there was a field stone culvert tunnel if you will get passed on route 12 and that it collapsed and probably even prior to october storm the extra runoff of the water caused the tunnel to structure to collapse as well as formed the sinkhole.

The state had their hands full following the floods.

They did have this to say regarding the culvert collapse.

"in the wake of the halloween storm in 2019, the department of transportation took steps to address flooding to make sure that route 12 was safe and passable for motorists.

Dot removed debris and stabilized the area to ensure the flow of water under route 12."

Standup?

10:09:22 so here we are one year removed and the hole is still here in front of the schoolhouse apartments i talked to the owner to find out whats the next step in the process of fixing this hole.

1:58 we had been in close contact and still are with the state dot as their engineers are coming up with different senarios to repair the area.

Pierce says one of them was filling the hole, but the dot engineers rejected that so he says they have been looking at other alternatives to repair the damage.

3:00 we are patiently waiting....and their guests.

Pierce believes once a plan is approved, permitts are in place and crews are chosen...the project could only take weeks to complete.

5:22 we are also....very understanding of the process that the dot has to follow....we look forward to amongst other things in 2021 a resolution of this problem.

Reporting in waterville jason powles newschannel 2.> we're helping you get back 2 work now.

An engineering supervisor is needed in utica.