Sinkhole opens up behind Washington County fire station
South Strabane looks to make emergency repairs to collapsed pipe
South Strabane firefighters are trying to make emergency repairs to a stormwater pipe to prevent a sinkhole that opened up next to their station on Oak Spring Road from getting any bigger.
The large pipe buried beneath the parking lot behind the department’s building collapsed during Saturday afternoon’s torrential downpours and rushing water carved out a deep hole that is inching closer to the fire hall with subsequent storms.
“We are worried about how close the undercutting is that continues to occur every time it rains,” said Jason Brown, who started as the township’s interim fire chief on Saturday. “It’s causing the damage to creep further and further to the building.”
Despite the encroaching sinkhole and water flooding into the fire hall’s kitchen and community room, Brown said the department is still able to run its emergency operations out of the building and the fire trucks could be seen parked in the bays Sunday afternoon. But the social hall that is used for bingo night, community gatherings and as a warming and cooling station is closed indefinitely until the stormwater pipe can be repaired and the sinkhole filled back in.
The fire department was in the process of securing funding to repair or replace the stormwater pipe, even receiving a $100,000 grant from Washington County’s Local Share Account last year. But the money was not set to be disbursed until later this fall, and now the emergency nature of the repair could run counter to normal contract bidding requirements set forth by the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
“We’re in a pretty tight spot right now,” Brown said. “We are guinea pigs in this process.”
He said the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington, which oversees the LSA program, is currently reviewing whether the money can be used on an emergency basis for the repairs that might be somewhat different than the plans included in the department’s application it put forward to receive the funds. Brown was meeting with local and county officials Monday to figure out whether the LSA money could be “reappropriated” in a way to make immediate repairs.
“If we have to pay out of pocket for this repair, we don’t have funds in the bank,” Brown said. “The township would have to levy a pretty substantial cost back to the taxpayers, who are already strapped and affected by the storm.”
The Washington area received about 2 inches of rain during Saturday afternoon’s storm, and about another inch of rainfall Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. Both South Strabane Township and the city of Washington declared states of emergency, and a link to report storm damage can be found on South Strabane Fire Department’s Facebook page.
Other areas in Washington County along the Route 19 corridor also experienced flash flooding from Saturday afternoon’s storms.
North Strabane Township was “pretty fortunate” to have survived the storm without major damage, according to township Public Safety Director Mark Grimm.
Several posted videos on social media showing flooded backyards, fields and roadways, but Grimm said that the 20 or so calls the North Strabane Township Fire Department received on Saturday were comparably less than during the two intense flash floods that occurred in August. The township saw flooding along Morganza Road and Linden Creek, as well as within the Meadowbrook area and near Demar Boulevard, as well as a number of flooded basements, Grimm said.
Township public works and emergency management crews were out assessing flood damage throughout the township on Sunday and Monday.
Staff writer Conner Goetz contributed to this story.