Work to repair two sinkholes and a trouble-plagued sewer/stormwater line along Wilkes-Barre's Horton Street is a month or more from completion, officials said during a community meeting Monday night.
In the meantime, some neighbors said they still didn't have gas service Monday, weeks after the collapses, which took place on June 25 and July 14.
"I take ice cold, ice ... cold ... showers," Horton Street resident Paula Ciaverella told WVIA News after the meeting at CrisNics Irish Pub on Barney Street.
She lives right by the second sinkhole between Church and Warren streets.
"I'm fortunate. I do have an electric stove," Ciaverella said, so she can cook.
"It's just the basic hygiene and stuff," she added. "You know, you go to wash your face and it's ice cold."
Elba Guzman, who lives on Horton Street near the first sinkhole, can't take hot showers or cook in her house.
"I can't afford it, to be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner out," Guzman said.
"I have to be going to the gym or to my son's house or somebody else's house to take showers every day because it's so hot and it's very uncomfortable for me to be in the house," she said.
Monday's meeting, hosted by Mayor George Brown, brought together officials from the city, construction firm Stell Enterprises, engineering firm Penn Eastern, Pennsylvania American Water, UGI Electric Utilities, and the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority to answer residents' questions about the restoration project.
Reached later Monday evening, UGI Utilities spokesman John Mason confirmed there were still 10 customers without gas service — five around each sinkhole.
Mason said restoration of service to those customers depends on the city finishing repairs to its storm and sewer pipes.
The collapsed sewer/stormwater line, which is made of terra cotta, is well over a century old, officials have said, and the full repair process, including repaving the street, will take weeks.
"Minimum, a month, the way Rob was talking," Brown said, referencing Rob Stella from Stell Enterprises.
"And I mean, who knows? You know, we didn't think it would be this long, but it's so deep in the ground, and it's such a major clean-out, that's the biggest problem," the mayor said of the debris-filled sewer/stormwater line.
For neighbors like Guzman, the wait is painful.
"I don't have any gas, and this is getting me so depressed at this point that I don't feel well, I don't," Guzman said.
"And my husband is very sick. He's an older man, and he's he got high blood pressure, all kinds of sickness, and this situation is not good for him as well," she added.
What happened?
A 20-foot-deep sinkhole opened under Horton Street in June, shortly before work was set to begin on a $600,000 emergency repair project along the sewer/stormwater line.
On July 14, a second large sinkhole opened under the street about 200 feet away, accompanied by a water main break as well as a gas leak.
Neither was related to mine subsidence, officials have said, and both followed heavy rainstorms.
No injuries were reported, but the collapses wreaked havoc on utilities, traffic, and the lives of neighbors.
The July 14 collapse initially prompted the evacuation of about 12 people, as well as the interruption of water, electric, and gas service.
Later that evening, gas was still turned off to 24 customers while repairs continued.
What happens next?
Brown summarized the anticipated process as explained by the other officials:
- The damaged sewer/stormwater line is filled with dirt and debris which must be cleaned out. The contractors and city officials are working with the sanitary authority to get the line cleaned before it can be repaired. That will take two to three weeks, the mayor said.
- Then the contractors will install a rubbery membrane inside the line, which will be heatened and hardened to protect the conduit. "So another week for that," Brown said.
- Then the massive holes will have to be filled and the affected areas of the street repaved "curb-to-curb," the mayor said. But because Horton Street is a state road, Brown said he will reach out to PennDOT to see if the state will pave the entire street so the newly paved areas don't stand out from the rest.
Noise and traffic concerns
Some residents noted the loud, groaning noises created by equipment used to clean out the damaged sewer line.
But, some said, there is a minor silver lining: They said the equipment noise is less objectionable than the tractor-trailers and other traffic which are temporarily re-routed off Horton Street while it is closed for construction.
They wondered if the re-routing could be made permanent once the work was complete — although at least one other area resident said the trucks aren't all following the detours and are driving through residential areas where they shouldn't be.
Brown said the first step will be to talk with police about stepping up enforcement of the detour.
What about garbage and other services?
Ciaverella from Horton Street said she had been carrying her garbage and recyclining down the block past the sinkhole to be picked up, "and just it's an inconvenience, big time."
She and other residents do not have to do that, city officials said.
Brown said any affected residents can call the mayor's office at (570) 208-4158, and they will connect residents with DPW to arrange pickup.
What will the repair work cost?
As noted, the city was prepared to embark on a $600,000 repair project on the aging Horton Street sewer/stormwater line before the first sinkhole hit.
Brown said Monday that officials do not yet have an estimate on what the project will cost after the second sinkhole added to the work.
