CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Crews are working to repair a sinkhole that appeared Sunday.

Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputies have closed Arnold Mill Road eastbound between River Laurel Way and Grimes Road while crews work on the hazard.

“During a storm where you’ve got a super heavy, couple inch or inch per hour rain, it’s hauling through the pipe, and It’s basically picking up sediment around the pipe and carrying it down the pipe,” Reese Alley, SCA Construction CEO, said. “So, the final collapse is the very product of months and months and months, or years, of erosion.”

In some cases, entire cars and roadways are sucked into the earth.

Alley said the underground stormwater pipeline was built to last 25 to 30 years, and that time is up. Holes have formed due to rust or resettlement.

Deputies have not said when the road will be reopened.

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