Update (02/01 9:15pm): The sinkhole on Hwy 101 are still diverting traffic. The Oregon Department of Transportation has set up a detour for public safety. Officials are planning to start fixing the hole this week.
Brookings, Ore.– Two massive sinkholes, one blocking Highway 101 in Brookings. ODOT blames old pipes for the damage that will take millions to repair.
What’s normally a busy stretch of Oregon highway is now shut down to drivers completely.
“It’s the only way going south towards California,” says Brookings resident Francesca Farr. “So tons of traffic goes through.”
The sinkhole is 55 feet deep and extremely dangerous. It’s also literally hitting close to home for Dave Zuch.
“Every once in awhile you hear sloughing off,” says Zuch who’s home is right next door to a second sinkhole. That one collapsed on itself just yesterday.
Francesca Farr works at the Dutch Bros. across the street.
“They told us beware because we might close down,” she says.
Farr was there when the second sinkhole crumbled in on itself, shutting down Shopping Center Lane.
“I was standing where the road was,” she recounts. “I pulled up and the road was kind of breaking. I got my camera out and started filming.”
ODOT says the issue goes back years. Under the streets lie decades old pipes, some dating back to the 1920’s. Dave Hunter with ODOT says it was a clogged pipe and a cavity that formed by collecting water that forced the street to fall into itself leaving a gaping hole.
For now pipes are draining water left at the bottom of the sink hole, but heavy rain today didn’t help. Still officials say they plan to start remedying the incident as early as next week.
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