Repairs underway after massive sinkhole leads to gas leak in Montgomery County

Sinkhole in Montgomery County leads to gas leak, forcing nearby school to close

Crews are hard at work in Montgomery County after a massive sinkhole opened up, leading to a gas leak. A nearby school was forced to close due to the incident, and it’s causing frustration for drivers in the area. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal is live with the latest update. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Crews are hard at work in Montgomery County after a massive sinkhole opened up, leading to a gas leak.

A nearby school was forced to close due to the incident, and it’s causing frustration for drivers in the area. 

What we know:

At the intersection of Liberty Mill and Dawson Farm, large pipes are being used as part of an above-ground bypass system, which will need to be in place before they can fix the actual collapsed pipe.

 "They certainly got on the repairs very quickly, which is encouraging. I mean, you know, it’s hard to know. Look at all the equipment. It’s going to take a while I think," said neighbor Irene Vaudin.

Here’s the deal:

 Officials with WSSC Water say this all started with a sewer main collapse – a pile about 30 inches in diameter – at about 6:30 a.m.

There’s no wastewater escaping from the pipe, WSSC officials say. They have also reinforced the message that drinking water in the area has not been impacted.

 The collapse damaged a Washington Gas service line. 

Verizon had to come out to deal with a compromised telephone pole and Germantown Elementary School – right next to the sinkhole – had to close for the day. 

What's next:

Montgomery County Schools were already scheduled to be closed on Friday as well, but now the question is: what happens next?

Officials say they’ll get that bypass system up and running, likely either on Friday or by Saturday at the latest. 

Then they’ll repair the collapsed pipe, and in April, they’re going to start a previously-planned major project to rehab or replace about 1700-feet of pipeline, including this section.

Dig deeper:

As for how the sinkhole happened on Thursday, lawmakers say the investigation is ongoing. 

"We’ll do an analysis after the fact, an investigation, to understand what happened. This pipe dates back to 1982," said Lyn Riggins with WSSC Water. "There are gases – hydrogen sulfide – that is typically seen inside these types of sewer mains, given what goes through them, and those gases can eat away at the structural integrity of the pipe. So, that does happen with sewer mains. Is that what happened here? Too early to say."

 Officials don’t know exactly when these initial repairs will be complete, but they do say it’ll be days, not weeks.