News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A sinkhole caused by flood waters in Cookeville led to a broken water line along Rockwell Drive.
Ronnie Kelly is the Director of the Department of Water Quality Control. He said workers received calls of low water pressure in the area around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“When our employees arrived on the scene, they’d found that a sinkhole had fell out from under our water line there and had collapsed our line,” Kelly said. “Our employees had to cut off the line on Rockwell and get that repaired. We called in Public Works to help and get some bigger stone in there to stabilize that sinkhole.”
Kelly said crews were able to repair the line and have it operating properly around midnight Wednesday night. No word on how much water was lost from the broken line.
Operations Supervisor Carey Aitkens reports the sinkhole took out about two-thirds of the roadway and required over six dump truck loads of gravel to fill.
Aitkens said the Department of Water Quality Control thanks the Public Works Department and all employees involved
About four inches of rain fell Wednesday, causing flash floods across Cookeville and the rest of the region. More rain is expected Thursday as the National Weather Service has already issued a Flash Flood Watch beginning at 3 p.m.
