Flooding, then gaping sinkhole. Neighbors at uninhabitable home say flooding issues are persistent.

STAFFORD — A sinkhole nearly 20 feet deep and just as wide has opened up on Eustace Road.

It swallowed trees, unearthed utility cables, and caused some homeowners in Stafford County’s Park Ridge neighborhood to lose electricity and water.

As of Thursday, the utilities for those affected in the single-family homes that line Eustace Road was restored. Traffic on the busy street that carries more than 5,000 cars per day was not.

A portion of the street is closed from the intersection of Northampton Boulevard down to Legal Court where the sinkhole sits. Neighbors, taking the situation in stride, say jokingly say they’re putting in an in-ground swimming pool.

Traffic is detoured to nearby Christopher Way, while those who live along the portion of the closed street are allowed to drive past the orange cones used to close the street so they can reach their driveways.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is charged with fixing the hole, however, it issued a statement Thursday stating there is no anticipated repair date.

It’s the second major street failure in the county in as many months. A portion of Bells Hill Road has been closed since June 4 after the road buckled following a slope failure that nearly took the street with it into the gully below.

“I’ve lived here in Stafford 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Debra DeCola.

The sinkhole formed across from her house. Before it grew to the monster it is today, it first appeared about six weeks ago as a small hole.

DeCola and her neighbors said VDOT came out, filed the small hole with dirt and rocks and then placed an orange cone over it. About a week and a half ago, a paving crew just finished laying new asphalt along Eustace Road.

The sinkhole comes after the region has seen nearly every day this week. More than five inches of rain — more than one month’s worth — fell on Stafford on Saturday, July 21, while more fell in spurts off an on through Wednesday, July 25.

During the rain, a drain that sits where the sinkhole formed became clogged. The street became a river which turned into a pond as the water had nowhere to go.

“Kids were out playing in it and having a good time. And then I saw a log float by,” added DeCola.

Just up the street from the sinkhole is 348 Eustace Road, the home of Micheal Cole. The home sits at the base of a slope, where water drains from the properties above the home.

Today, Cole’s home of three-and-a-half years is uninhabitable. His family is now staying with relatives after more than seven feet of water filled his basement, overtopping the doorframe in his basement, creeping up into his stairwell.

Cole spent Thursday pumping out the water from his home. Mud on the floor and high on the walls show where the water had been.

“This was my prize piece… a signed Joe Theismann jersey,” said Cole, using his cell phone to show a photo of a soggy Redskins players jersey that once adorned his wall.

A pool table, his daughter’s bed, carpet, and other material items were lost in the flood. A webpage is set up to help the family in their time of need. 

This latest basement food is the second in as many years. Cole said he was denied flood insurance after he applied shortly after about two inches of water filled his basement in February 2017.

“They told me I don’t live in a floodplain,” said Cole.