Chelan County Plans to Replace Stormwater Pipe After Second Sinkhole

Chelan County Public Works has discovered three sinkholes in the span of three months, with the first one found in late June, the latest found this Wednesday and two of which were formed near Boodry Street. Due to the series of sinkholes, particularly near Boodry Street, Public Works is opting to replace 1,000 feet of stormwater pipe in the South Wenatchee area sooner than originally planned.

The project to replace the stormwater pipe in this area was originally set for 2021 after receiving $755,000 from the Department of Ecology, however the culvert will now be replaced before the grant dollars are available.

"We expect it to be over $200,000 and that will be money coming directly out of the county road fund," said Jill FitzSimmons, Public Information Officer.

This series of sinkholes is out of the ordinary for the county and the fault traces back to the failing stormwater culverts that were impacted by the abnormal amounts of rainfall this summer.

"I know it feels like we have sinkholes all over the place, but really this is out of the ordinary for us. Really what we're pointing to are those rainy periods that we've had since June. We've just had a lot of high intensity rain," said FitzSimmons.

The third sinkhole not on South Wenatchee Avenue was on Burch Mountain Road, but the condition of that stormwater conveyance system is different - a portion of the stormwater culvert below Burch Mountain Road sinkhole was replaced last week.

According to the press release, the goal is to have the pipe replaced by winter.

Filed Under: chelan county public works, sinkhole, wenatchee

Categories: KPQ News