Boil advisory posted after sinkhole swallows yards in Cheltenham neighborhood

originally posted on January 25, 2017

 

A drinking water advisory is in effect for residents in a Cheltenham Township neighborhood where a massive sinkhole swallowed parts of two residential yards.

Officials say the hole, which appears to be about 20 feet deep, opened up about 4 a.m. Wednesday along Brooke Road in the Northwoods neighborhood. Aqua Pennsylvania was working to fill the chasm during the day.

A tree could be seen teetering into the hole, but it also appeared to be keeping the pickup from rolling into the crater. The hole also swallowed part of the sidewalk and the edge of the street nearest the two homes whose yards are affected.

Authorities say nobody’s been hurt and there was no obvious, immediate cause for the sinkhole to develop.

The family in one of the homes was evacuated; the other home was vacant, officials said.

Brooke Road is closed between Argyle Road and Chelfield Road until further notice.

  • FOR MORE INFORMATION
  • Residents seeking Red Cross assistance may contact the Cheltenham Township Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, 267-901-4043.
  • Aqua PA: 877-987-2782
  • PECO: 215-841-5555
Township officials said on social media that they are working with Aqua Pennsylvania to protect the neighbors’ safety. It has turned off water to homes in the vicinity, officials said. Once the water is turned back on, residents will have to “boil water or use bottled water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation until further notice.”

Aqua expects to lift the boil water advisory on January 28, township officials said, but residents should continue boiling their water until Aqua announces the boil water advisory has been lifted.

Township workers used a video camera to inspect the main sanitary sewer line between Limekiln Pike and Chelfield Road and found no sign of damage.

Northwoods is a residential neighborhood of detached, single family homes built around 1939. Most of the neighborhood lies in Cheltenham Township, with its western end in Springfield Township. It abuts the North Hills train station on SEPTA Regional Rail’s Doylestown line.

In the past 10 years, at least two homeowners on the Cheltenham side of adjacent Chelfield Road loop have experienced smaller sinkholes on their front lawns.

The neighborhood sits a short distance away from a stone quarry on Willow Grove Avenue.

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