SEE IT: Bankrupt Harrisburg, Pa., can’t fix the 41 sinkholes plaguing its streets (PHOTOS)
Dozens of sinkholes have opened up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital city, including one locals cheekily dubbed 'Super Sinkhole Walter' and made a check-in site on Four Square.
Comments (44)By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, February 1, 2013, 3:16 PM
Donald Gilliland/ The Patriot-News
A "super sinkhole" at Fourth and Woodbine Streets in Harrisburg, Pa.,
last month. There are around 41 such sinkholes in the city, but the
local government is too broke to fix them.
Pennsylvania's state capital is suffering from a rash of monster
sinkholes, but city officials are too broke to do anything about it.
Loose soil and leaky, century-old underground water pipes are to blame for the municipal nightmare, which came to a head on the New Year's Eve when a 50-foot sinkhole yawned open along Fourth Street, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The eight-foot deep crater -- one of at least 41 in the city -- is so
large, locals made it a "check-in" site on the social media site Four
Square.
Some cheeky residents and the media nicknamed the hole "Super Sinkhole Walter."
Part of Harrisburg's financial woes stem from a disastrous city plan to
borrow some $300 million to upgrade a trash incinerator, the Journal
reported.
The borrowing spree forced Harrisburg to default on its debt and left the city lacking funds to fix roads, pipes or other critical infrastructure.
In addition to the sinkholes, the city has also been unable to fix a
sewage treatment plant that is dumping toxic waste into the Susquehanna
River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, the Journal
reported.
Several of the sinkholes, including the one that opened on Fourth Street on New Year's Eve, have forced residents to evacuate their homes. Some lost water, gas and sewer services.
Sharaun Davis, 33, who lives near the sinkhole, told local newspaper The Patriot News that she had to relocate her family to a hotel because construction on the hole was causing her home to shake.
"I'm hearing literally the dry wall cracking," she told the newspaper earlier this month. "We've had to change our whole life."
One engineer said it would cost $25 million to fix all of the sinkholes, the Journal reported. Some of them have been patched temporarily.
Local lawmakers have called on Gov. Tom Corbett to foot a portion of the bill using state funds.
Loose soil and leaky, century-old underground water pipes are to blame for the municipal nightmare, which came to a head on the New Year's Eve when a 50-foot sinkhole yawned open along Fourth Street, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Joe Hermitt/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Crews working in a trench on North Front Street. The sinkhole collapsed around New Year's, resulting in the loss of water, gas and sewer services.
Some cheeky residents and the media nicknamed the hole "Super Sinkhole Walter."
Via Google Maps
A map of sinkhole locations around Harrisburg.
The borrowing spree forced Harrisburg to default on its debt and left the city lacking funds to fix roads, pipes or other critical infrastructure.
Donald Gilliland/ The Patriot-News
Locals took to calling the North Fourth sinkhole "Super Sinkhole Walter," and even made it a "check in" location on Four Square.
Several of the sinkholes, including the one that opened on Fourth Street on New Year's Eve, have forced residents to evacuate their homes. Some lost water, gas and sewer services.
PAUL VATHIS/AP
Part of the city's problems stem from a financially-disastrous plan that borrowed some $300 million to upgrade a trash incinerator. City leaders were looking to the state to provide some money for sinkhole repairs. 'Playing a key role in keeping the streets of our state’s capital from collapsing should be a priority,' a recent editorial in local newspaper The Patriot News said.
"I'm hearing literally the dry wall cracking," she told the newspaper earlier this month. "We've had to change our whole life."
One engineer said it would cost $25 million to fix all of the sinkholes, the Journal reported. Some of them have been patched temporarily.
Local lawmakers have called on Gov. Tom Corbett to foot a portion of the bill using state funds.
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