Over the past few days, a creek in North Londonderry Township has dried up. But it is not because there isn’t any water, it is because of a sinkhole.
"As you can see, no water is flowing down the stream at all," explains Fred Wilcox.
The reason isn't a lack of rain; in fact, the rain may be the problem.
"When we get heavy rains, the soil can no longer hold that weight and the soil collapses,” Wilcox explained.
Collapses into a sinkhole. The Londonderry Township and Palmyra area is known for sinkholes because of the geology under the ground. Fred Wilcox says for the area, it's becoming a problem that residents of Rockledge Community are tired of.
"We've had at least 20 sinkholes in the development,” Wilcox continued. “Most of them have been small and we've been able to fix them quite nicely."
While they get fixed, it's unsettling for locals to know that a hole could open up and swallow not just a creek, but also their homes.
"Not a good situation because someplace under this development there's a lot of water flowing and if we get some heavy rains, it could create some surface problems for us," Wilcox expressed.
While no people were hurt, Fred says what was once a great place for wildlife is no more.
"This had been a great place for ducks and other aquatic birds, the stream did support a nice population of small fish, which obviously, they're gone," Wilcox added.
Fred told us that the area where the sinkhole opened up is owned by the Milton Hershey Trust. They told us, "We had a geologist inspect the area yesterday, and they did not determine there to be any risk to the area. It is a fairly common occurrence in this area - and the hole will be filled in next week."
