Sinkhole prompts emergency declaration in Monessen
Monessen Mayor Ron Mozer issued a local disaster emergency declaration after a sinkhole developed on State Road, creating a substantial risk of collapse.
Mozer said Delmar Hepple, a member of the city’s street department, first noticed the problem when his wife drove on the road Saturday evening.
“He starts looking at this little hole in the road and as he’s watching it, he’s watching the road disintegrate right before his very eyes,” Mozer said Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) representatives visited Monessen early Monday and determined the void to be the result of mine subsidence, creating a 12- to- 15-foot-deep hole measuring about 10 by 15 feet in the surface area.
The emergency disaster declaration enables the municipality to obtain services and materials without having to go through the normal bidding process and engage with county, state and federal agencies if necessary.
“This is a massive hole,” Mozer said. “DEP, being the regulatory agency the state uses for mine subsidence, said they could provide material but not the labor, so they provided the stone to fill this cavern up to rebuild the road.”
DEP delivered 56 tons of gravel Tuesday, with the remainder expected to be provided Wednesday.
Mozer said he expects the road to reopen no later than Thursday evening or possibly Wednesday evening.