Atlanta man could have to foot bill for ‘nightmare’ sinkhole in yard

ATLANTA — One Atlanta homeowner is alarmed by a growing sinkhole taking up his yard, but he’s even more alarmed at the price tag that could come with fixing it.

The 10-foot deep hole is plaguing one yard in the Berkeley Park neighborhood, but the hole itself isn’t the only concern. The collapsed pipe causing it runs under several homes.

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“It’s just been a nightmare dealing with it,” said Alexander Deal, who owns the home the sinkhole is in behind.

With each passing rain, Deal tells Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln that he gores more and more anxious.

Deal says the hole began forming in May and has continued to grow since then.

He told Lincoln that he hired a company to find out what was causing the massive sinkhole. They found that the culprit was a old pipe likely built in the 1930s.

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Video from inside the pipe shows it is completely crushed.

“Pretty much, the pipe looks like you took a solo cup and crushed it,” Deal described.

The City of Atlanta says that the pipe is on private property and he will, therefore, likely have to foot the bill himself, which could be steep because the pipe runs beneath several homes and parks.

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Channel 2 Action News first reported on a Cobb County family facing similar issue. After a pipe built in the 1960s collapsed in their yard and caused a sinkhole, they may have to pay for the damages as well.

Lincoln found that in most cases, homeowners do end up having to pay to replace pipes in these situations because they are on private property.

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