Authorities said the sinkhole started to form on Thursday and the area near the location will be closed for repairs until at least July 25.
A detour in place will send motorists around the closure by using Meadowbrook Drive, Welborn Road, Hopewell Church Road and Old Hopewell Church Road.
Motorists are urged to use caution in the area and watch for detour signs.
Lt. Grady Starnes with the Guil-Rand Fire Department told The Asheboro Courier-Tribune that the hole was caused when a stream running under the road flooded and the pavement gave way.
The paper described the hole as measuring 12 feet deep on Thursday.
Sinkhole closes roadway in Trinity
Official claims sinkhole depth exceeds estimates
Advocate staff photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCK - The large sinkhole that was created after the Texas Brine Co. cavern in the salt dome failed this summer.
An Assumption Parish official said Sunday the deepest part of the 22-acre sinkhole near the Bayou Corne Community is at least 500 feet deep, and not between 110 to 220 feet deep that has been estimated by Texas Brine.
John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said previous depth reports released by Texas Brine Co., the company may have been inaccurate because the company’s sonar did not penetrate debris fields inside the sinkhole.
The swampland hole emerged last August after a Texas Brine salt dome cavern failed deep underground. That failure forced the evacuation of 350 residents for almost a year.
Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch said Sunday he is confident the company’s depth findings are correct. A Texas Brine contractor has said the sinkhole is from 110 feet to 220 feet deep, according to previous monthly depth-finding surveys.
The most recent sonar test on June 7 found the depth of the sinkhole to be 140 feet deep.
Boudreaux likened the bottom of the sinkhole to a swimming pool with the deepest part located in the middle.
Boudreaux said he did not use a sophisticated method like sonar to measure the sinkhole. Instead, he said, he took a 10-pound crowbar with the ends cut off and attached it to a 500-foot surveyor’s tape measure, drove out to the center of the sinkhole in an amphibious vehicle and let the crowbar go, unspooling the tape measure until it could not go any further.
“It’s the simplest of the simple,” Boudreaux said of the device.
He performs these checks periodically to confirm the numbers Texas Brine is finding using sonar testing.
Boudreaux said he took six other measurements and found the floor in other areas to be between 125 and 180 feet before he found what he described as an “upside-down witches hat,” a deep cone with a pointed end.
He said there is debris, including trees, in the sinkhole and the sonar Texas Brine is using is bouncing off the debris, leading officials to find a false bottom.
“I made it through the debris and it continues to go down,” Boudreaux said of his measuring device.
He said he bounced the crowbar about two or three times — which he does to determine whether he has hit the bottom — before the device broke through and continued to fall.
Boudreaux said he thinks he ran out of tape before the crowbar hit the bottom of the sinkhole, so he is trying to find a 750-foot tape measure this week to see if he hits the bottom with it.
Accurately finding the true depth of the sinkhole is significant, Boudreaux said, because scientists can use that to try to determine the actual size of the sinkhole.
He also said if the sinkhole is bigger than previously estimated, then it may affect other areas such as fishing spots south of the sinkhole.
Cranch said he is confident in Texas Brine’s numbers and said surveyors have found holes in the past that he believes are similar to what Boudreaux found.
Cranch said surveyors found cone-shaped holes in October and December that extended far deeper than recorded depths of the sinkhole’s floor.
Those holes were 410-feet and 440-feet deep, respectively, data provided by Cranch shows.
But surveyors were not able to find those cones again and those numbers are considered outliers.
Consistantly, Texas Brine’s sonar contractor has determined the depth is approximately 160 feet deep, according to data the company has collected.
Cranch stressed that the depths change because the sediment in the sinkhole is constantly shifting and changing.
“He may find it again, he may not,” Cranch said.
John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said previous depth reports released by Texas Brine Co., the company may have been inaccurate because the company’s sonar did not penetrate debris fields inside the sinkhole.
The swampland hole emerged last August after a Texas Brine salt dome cavern failed deep underground. That failure forced the evacuation of 350 residents for almost a year.
Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch said Sunday he is confident the company’s depth findings are correct. A Texas Brine contractor has said the sinkhole is from 110 feet to 220 feet deep, according to previous monthly depth-finding surveys.
The most recent sonar test on June 7 found the depth of the sinkhole to be 140 feet deep.
Boudreaux likened the bottom of the sinkhole to a swimming pool with the deepest part located in the middle.
Boudreaux said he did not use a sophisticated method like sonar to measure the sinkhole. Instead, he said, he took a 10-pound crowbar with the ends cut off and attached it to a 500-foot surveyor’s tape measure, drove out to the center of the sinkhole in an amphibious vehicle and let the crowbar go, unspooling the tape measure until it could not go any further.
“It’s the simplest of the simple,” Boudreaux said of the device.
He performs these checks periodically to confirm the numbers Texas Brine is finding using sonar testing.
Boudreaux said he took six other measurements and found the floor in other areas to be between 125 and 180 feet before he found what he described as an “upside-down witches hat,” a deep cone with a pointed end.
He said there is debris, including trees, in the sinkhole and the sonar Texas Brine is using is bouncing off the debris, leading officials to find a false bottom.
“I made it through the debris and it continues to go down,” Boudreaux said of his measuring device.
He said he bounced the crowbar about two or three times — which he does to determine whether he has hit the bottom — before the device broke through and continued to fall.
Boudreaux said he thinks he ran out of tape before the crowbar hit the bottom of the sinkhole, so he is trying to find a 750-foot tape measure this week to see if he hits the bottom with it.
Accurately finding the true depth of the sinkhole is significant, Boudreaux said, because scientists can use that to try to determine the actual size of the sinkhole.
He also said if the sinkhole is bigger than previously estimated, then it may affect other areas such as fishing spots south of the sinkhole.
Cranch said he is confident in Texas Brine’s numbers and said surveyors have found holes in the past that he believes are similar to what Boudreaux found.
Cranch said surveyors found cone-shaped holes in October and December that extended far deeper than recorded depths of the sinkhole’s floor.
Those holes were 410-feet and 440-feet deep, respectively, data provided by Cranch shows.
But surveyors were not able to find those cones again and those numbers are considered outliers.
Consistantly, Texas Brine’s sonar contractor has determined the depth is approximately 160 feet deep, according to data the company has collected.
Cranch stressed that the depths change because the sediment in the sinkhole is constantly shifting and changing.
“He may find it again, he may not,” Cranch said.
Glenroy public housing tenant lived with sinkhole for 19 days
A GLENROY public housing tenant says he is lucky he was not seriously injured when a large sinkhole opened in his driveway.
Jayant Dagore, who has a spinal disability, said he was talking to a friend outside his Bindi St home on June 24 when his foot slipped into a deep crevice that suddenly appeared on his property.
"Luckily my friend was right behind me and he grabbed me quickly and dragged me out,'' Mr Dagore said.
He said the hole was half a metre wide and 6m deep and was the latest in a myriad of structural problems he had experienced with the driveway and steps to his public housing property.
Mr Dagore said he immediately contacted the Department of Human Services' maintenance department about the hole and a Broadmeadows housing office worker visited the day it appeared. But he said it was 19 days before any work was done to fix the hole.
"(The worker) told me not to park my van on the front lawn and said I should put up some danger signs so no one would get hurt," Mr Dagore said.
He said he did not receive any further advice or information about fixing the hole until he was notified on July 10 that a tradesperson would come to his house, one day after the Leader contacted the department about the problem.
"It is only because the media contacted them that something is being done," Mr Jayant told the Leader last week.
He said previous work to fix his collapsed front steps and uneven, caved-in driveway was also only completed following pressure from the Leader, but he said the work was unsatisfactory. He said his driveway had sharp edges that exacerbated a painful foot and ankle condition, but his housing officer refused to accept his medical certificates.
Department of Human Services spokeswoman Ruth Ward said the department had inspected the sinkhole on the day Mr Dagore raised the issue.
Ms Ward said a contractor had inspected the site and had identified the cause as damaged storm water drains.
Ms Ward told the Leader last Tuesday a plumber was booked to fix the drain on Wednesday. She said there had been no slippage or damage to the property.
The fallout comes after two large sinkholes opened in the corner of Glen and Bindi streets in late 2011 and were left unrepaired for two months because Moreland Council's regular contractors were on leave.
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