COBB COUNTY, Ga. — People in a Cobb County neighborhood say they are afraid sinkholes could eventually swallow their homes.
Channel 2′s Chris Jose spent the day Monday looking into the issue and found a common thing among several sink holes in the area: they all had to do with underground pipes or culverts that failed.
Rebecca Klein shared cellphone video of a recent flood on Old Orchard Drive. She ended up with three feet of water in her finished basement.
“When this pipe got damaged and blocked, basically all the water came rushing over and into our house,” Klein said, showing Jose the damage.
Jose was there as a crew replaced Klein’s HVAC and air conditioning unit.
“My greatest fear is this hole is going to keep getting bigger. Saturday, we had rain come through and this hole completely filled up with water again,” Klein said.
Klein told Jose that she is worried her home is in danger of falling in. Next door, the neighbor’s driveway collapsed.
“You’re stuck at your house?” Jose asked neighbor Jeffrey Dawson.
“We’re stuck. We can’t go anywhere,” Dawson said.
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The damage is so bad, Dawson said he can’t drive his cars down the hill. He and his family are extremely cautious when they walk across.
“It is weakening with all of this rain. And very soon we’re going to be in a situation where it’s not going to be safe to cross anymore,” Dawson said.
Cobb County said it only maintains dedicated structural infrastructure. The pipes on the homeowners’ properties are up to them to maintain.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re just waiting for whatever is next,” Dawson said.
One family on Springs End Lane also lives near a creek. A pipe runs underneath the yard. Because of flash flooding over the weekend, it also created a sink hole underneath a driveway.
The homeowner told Jose that he’ll have to pay more than $20,000 out of pocket to fix it.
With more rain in the forecast, the flood victims told Jose they are holding their breath.
“I’m definitely very stressed out about it. We’ve purchased sandbags to try and help whatever water we can out of the basement, but we can’t really do anything at this point to stop the hole from getting bigger,” Klein said.
A structural engineer told the neighbors it could cost up to $500,000 to replace the pipe and fix the damage.
Cobb County Emergency Management is asking victims to contact them so they can continue assessments. Cobb EMA said it has received more than 200 reports so far.
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