Yard's sinkhole finally fixed

A West Ashley woman breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after months of trying to get someone to repair a growing sinkhole in her front yard.

A team from AT&T showed up at 7:15 a.m. to fill the sinkhole and repair what was causing it after a story ran in The Post and Courier Wednesday, Hillary Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson had tried since August to get AT&T, the city of Charleston or Charleston County to repair the hole, which had grown to 5 feet deep and nearly 4 feet across. "It's a relief. I can quit worrying about the rest of the yard falling in," Hutchinson said.

The sinkhole was caused by AT&T workers who cut away a section of an underground stormwater pipe to make way for a cable they laid perpendicular to it. Stormwater that was supposed to run from a cul-de-sac, through the pipe and out to a marsh behind Hutchinson's house was pooling underground in her yard, causing it to cave in.

AT&T spokesman Josh Gelinas said the company regrets that Hutchinson was inconvenienced in any way, and "we will return her property to a condition with which she is satisfied."

Hutchinson said city and county representatives also showed up at her house to make sure the work got done.