Broken water main causes section of Hall County road to collapse

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Emergency crews in Hall County are trying to repair a road that collapsed during Thursday’s storms.

A water line busted underneath Calvary Church Road and then the heavy rain helped eat away at it, until a massive hole was left in the middle of the road.

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“We've had this before at this same spot,” said Duck Rogers, who lives up the hill from the break.

Rogers told Channel 2’s Tony Thomas that Calvary Church Road is a perennial trouble spot.

“Was there a lot of water coming through there?” Thomas asked Rogers.

“Oh yeah. It was full,” Rogers said.

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As the rain continued to fall throughout the day, the normally gentle Rock Creek turned.

Gwinnett and Barrow county residents faced at least three tornado warnings through the day.

Thomas and his photographer were there Thursday morning as fire crews pulled a downed power line off a school bus at the Gwinnett/ Barrow county line.

“We heard a pop and about that time the lights went out,” said neighbor Ed Rainwater.

There were no children on the bus.

Rainwater told Thomas that he watched the bus come to a skidding halt as it got tangled in the wire on Dee Kennedy Road.

“As soon as she got stopped and got the flashers on, she jumped off the bus. She didn't step off; she jumped off the bus,” Rainwater said of the bus driver.

As for the people along Calvary Church Road, they hope to not see their road collapse again.

A few homeowners were without water for the afternoon because of the road collapse, but water authorities told Thomas they expect to have everything turned back on at some point later in the evening.

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