Crews still working on water main break on Midway Road in Decatur

Water main break still under repair

The water main break in Decatur that resulted in the closure of schools and a local road on Monday is still under repair on Tuesday.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A major water main break in DeKalb County carved out a massive sinkhole on Midway Road, forcing several schools to dismiss early Monday and raising concerns among nearby residents. 

ORIGINAL STORY: Students in DeKalb County sent home, relocated after water main break

What we know:

The incident affected all City Schools of Decatur campuses as well as three additional DeKalb County schools, where officials cited sanitation issues caused by the outage.

The collapse left a deep crater stretching across nearly two lanes of the roadway. Jacqueline Thomas, who operates a nearby group home, said the sinkhole formed without warning. "If you would have been in the area when it collapsed, you would have died. It’s deep," she said.

Neighbors awoke to find the hole filling rapidly with water. "Everything was going fine and then this morning, we got a big ole swimming pool in the middle of the street," resident Joe Pitts said.

Crews have not yet determined what caused the main to fail. Persistent rainfall could complicate repairs, as workers need to keep water out of the site while stabilizing the damaged line. Officials warn that continued wet weather may cause the sinkhole to expand by weakening the soil beneath the pavement.

Although schools were dismissed or relocated on Monday, they returned to normal operations on Tuesday.