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Lafayette Officials Say Permanent Sinkhole Fix Will Take Months

LAFAYETTE (KCBS) — Work crews in Lafayette continued repairs Monday on the giant sinkhole caused by last weekend's storm. But engineers said the road won't be permanently fixed for several months.

Torrential rains on Sunday morning carried branches and other debris that clogged drains, causing water to overflow along Mountain View Drive. Eventually a portion of street buckled and collapsed, creating a massive sinkhole which is 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 15 feet deep.

KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:

City Manager Steve Falk said that civil engineers are working on temporary fix.

"My civil engineers are going to work on a program to put a temporary culvert in and that will convey the water that crosses that gap for the next storm that comes in and probably for the rest of the winter," Falk said.

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Engineers will design a new culvert system but that it's not expected to be installed until late spring or early summer.

"The bottom line is that there is going to be a hole in the ground for a long time," he said.

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