Homeowners in SE Houston find huge sinkhole in yard

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Talk about a sinking feeling! Homeowners in southeast Houston are terrified after finding a huge sinkhole in their back yard.

It's 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide and no one knew the sinkhole was here until a couple of days ago.

Homeowner Dianne Walker noticed it while her brother was doing yard work.

"He said, 'Come here. There's a hole over here,'" said Walker. "I said, 'OK', no, there is a big whole over there."

The hole is already eroding away the fence line, causing a power pole to lean and even more troubling for Walker, the corner of her shed is now hanging over the hole.

"So at any time, it could collapse and that didn't just happen," she said.

Walker says she called Houston Public Works on Thursday about the sinkhole. She says so far, only inspectors have come, but no workers.

So we called Houston Public Works and found city inspectors have labeled this a high priority; not high enough for neighbor Barbra Ann Brown.

"I woke up this morning looking for a truck, so I came over here and bothered her," said Brown. "Where are the trucks?"

Here's what we've learned. Centerpoint is going to have to secure power pole lines before the city can start work filling the hole. It's a process that could take weeks, not what the people out there wanted to hear, but because it's not in a road or street, it may take longer to get a crew here to fix it.

We'll keep you updated.