OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — City crews are still working to repair the sinkhole that happened last week on 16th Street. As work continues above ground, reporter Molly Hudson got an exclusive look at an issue neighbors have been dealing with for months, in the basement of the building right next to the sinkhole.
- For months mud has filled the sub-basement of the Regis building.
- It started back in April. Tom Dinaro, a resident of the building, says about 200,000 pounds of mud that had seeped in, had to be cleaned out of the basement of the historic building.
- When the sinkhole opened last week - it didn't come as a surprise to neighbors.
- Public Works expects it to take about two weeks to fix this sinkhole.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"And here is where it gets disgusting, as you can see here, this used to be storage in our sub-basement," said Tom Dinaro, a resident of the Regis building for 8 years.
"It is completely inundated with mud, all, everyone's belongings were destroyed," Dinaro said.
For months residents like Tom Dinaro in the Regis building have been dealing with mud, and lots of it.
"You'll get another disgusting vantage point of it over here too," Dinaro told Molly.
It started back in April. Dinaro says about 200,000 pounds of mud that had seeped in, had to be cleaned out of the basement of the historic building.
"They brought this out in bags, like they brought it out in contractor bags, up the stairs and into a dump truck," Dinaro said.
But soon after, more seeped in to replace it.
"This is the second iteration of this, so we are really struggling, our residents, because this is a condominium building, so we all own this and therefore we all have to pay for it," Dinaro said.
When the sinkhole opened last week - it didn't come as a surprise to neighbors like Dinaro.
"Four feet worth of mud in our basement, that was obviously from here, like we were told about this void, 6 months ago, and that's how they described it was a void, and as you can see it is a void," Dinaro told KMTV last week when the sinkhole opened.
While it's unknown if last week’s sinkhole is connected to the muddy mess, residents like Dinaro reported the issue in their sub-basement to the city long before the sinkhole opened.
I called Omaha Public Works.
They've been aware of issues at the building since 2021 but are still investigating where the mud is coming from.
"I am concerned about the mud intrusion in there again from whatever this was, happening somewhere else," Dinaro said.
With residents of the building out hundreds of thousands of dollars already, they are hoping there is a solution soon.
Public Works expects it to take about two weeks to fix this sinkhole.
