A water main break that erupted Sunday night in Coplay, Pennsylvania, has grown into a sinkhole that swallowed part of South Fourth Street, knocked out utilities to a twin home and forced two families to leave. Three days later, crews are still working the scene with no end in sight.
The break started around 5 p.m. Sunday, according to municipal authority officials cited by WFMZ.com, and crews responded that evening to a neighborhood where the ground beneath the roadway soon gave way. What began as a routine repair call turned into a sinkhole big enough to shut down the street and send two families packing, with their twin home left without utilities while neighboring houses continued to receive safe water, per officials.
Street Closed, Utilities Cut, No Timeline Yet
South Fourth Street has now been closed for three days, and workers have reported seeing additional problems beneath the road surface as they assess the damage, the station's report states. Trucks have been observed bringing in stone to slowly fill the sinkhole as crews try to stabilize the area. Northampton Borough Municipal Authority is coordinating the response alongside Coplay Borough and the Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority, but as of Wednesday, no completion date had been announced for either the water main repair or the sinkhole fix.
The two displaced families were advised to evacuate while the work continues, and it remains unclear how long they will be out of their home. The same account notes that officials have not said what caused the ground to collapse in the first place, leaving residents waiting on updates as the repair drags on.
Not the First Sinkhole Trouble on This Block
This is not the first time South Fourth Street in Coplay has dealt with a collapsing roadway. Minutes from a March 19 meeting of the Coplay Whitehall Sewer Authority, reported by Lehigh Valley Press, describe a sinkhole on the same street that swallowed an 8-foot sewer authority manhole structure, which sank entirely below the surface. CWSA removed the manhole cover, repaired the sewer line and filled the hole back in, according to the outlet, with the authority receiving a $15,000 invoice for that work. At the time, CWSA was also weighing whether to install a new manhole or leave in place an alternate fix crews referred to as a “wormhole,” Lehigh Valley Press reported.
Separately, the sewer authority was dealing with a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection technical deficiency letter dated Feb. 27 regarding its Act 537 plan, per the same meeting minutes. It is not established whether that regulatory matter has any connection to the current water main break or sinkhole.
When State Help Isn't Guaranteed
Sinkholes like the one now disrupting South Fourth Street can leave property owners in a tough spot when it comes to who pays for repairs. According to guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, if a sinkhole is not the result of a DEP-regulated activity, the agency may have no legal recourse to help a landowner make repairs or recover the associated costs.
Water main breaks turning into sinkholes are not unique to the Lehigh Valley. A September water main break in Penfield opened a large sinkhole and left 18 housing units deemed unfit to live in, according to WHEC, while Lebanon County has seen its own sinkhole-driven road closures this fall tied to a $3 million infrastructure project, Local 21 News reported. For now, Coplay residents along South Fourth Street are left watching stone trucks fill the hole in their street, waiting for word on when the road, the water and their neighbors' home will be whole again.
