Woman nearly faints after discovering sinkhole threatening to swallow her home

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A homeowner said she nearly fainted after seeing a sinkhole just feet from her DeKalb County home.

She told Channel 2 Action News that she moved her tenants out of concern that the growing hole would swallow her house.

Kimberly Mahoney said the home’s master bedroom is on the brink of falling into the sinkhole. It’s being supported by a beam,

“I had no clue that it was anything like this. When I got here yesterday, I fainted,” Mahoney said.

The sinkhole is in the backyard of the home on Wellborn Trail in Lithonia.

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“I think by tomorrow, if the rain is the way it should be, definitely by this weekend, the back side of this house will be off the home,” Mahoney said.

The sinkhole is just a block or so away from the site of another sinkhole we told you about in January.

Like that one, Mahoney believes a large storm drainage pipe is to blame.

“If you look underneath, like I showed you, it’s hollow so if anybody walked over here lightly they could just fall through,” Mahoney said.

When Mahoney first saw the hole on Tuesday she immediately called DeKalb County.

Crews responded within an hour and ordered the renters who live in Mahoney’s home to get out.

“They said everybody can’t be in the house and they roped it off,” Mahoney said.

While her tenants spend another night in a hotel, Mahoney now hopes the county will fix the hole, fast before it swallows up part of her home.

“I just want it fixed. I just want it safe,” Mahoney said.

The county sent us the following statement about the sinkhole:

On April 30, DeKalb County Roads and Drainage Division responded to a call about a sinkhole at a stormwater pipe at 5905 Wellborn Trail in Lithonia. 

The property was inspected and placed at the top of an emergency repair list. Caution tape was placed around the sinkhole and nextdoor neighbors received forms to sign giving crews permission to enter their properties to make the repairs.

Video assessment of the pipe and repairs are scheduled to begin next week, weather permitting.

Cox Media Group