ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Would you know what to do if our infrastructure failed and your home was collateral damage?
For two families in Allentown, they are living that reality.
It has been three months since a sinkhole opened on 15th street on a cold January day, months later, and those families are still unable to return home and say they have no one to turn to for help after insurance denied their claims.
It has been three months since the calendar in the kitchen has changed, or the fridge has been opened. Two homes in Allentown are stuck in time ever since the sinkhole opened on January 26.
For neighbors and those passing by, the large cement square, the caution tape and fences are a reminder of a brutal winter season plagued with water main breaks and sinkholes.
For Cynthia Alvarado and Katherine Simbana, they are living proof that the earth and our lives can shift in an instant.
“I sit down and cry almost every day because I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said Alvarado.
Both families are still unable to return home, both living with friends or family, and they say they have no path forward.
“I need help because it’s hard. I’m in the streets and I feel homeless. I feel like I am making someone else uncomfortable when I have a house, I pay my taxes and not even the city, no one helps me,” said Alvarado.
When the ground collapsed, Alvarado says she was met with a false sense of hope that the worst was behind her and that brighter days were ahead.
Three months later, another roadblock, the insurance company denied her claim because she did not have sinkhole insurance.
“Every time I come it gets worse and worse,” she explained as she walked us around the property.
Alvarado is now a visitor in the house she called home for a decade.
“It’s just crazy,” she said.
Every week she makes a trip back, deciding what to pack in two suitcases that now carry her whole life.
She explains that when the sinkhole first happened, when she would return home to switch out clothes, she had a fear the entire home was going to collapse so she would go in and out as quickly as possible.
“The days pass and the cracking on my foundation is getting bigger and bigger and the house is sinking,” she said, pointing out the large cracks in her basement walls.
Some cracks are so large that you can see outside.
Alvarado documents each crack; every additional one is a reminder of the tough road ahead. She says the repairs on the home would cost more than $50,000.
Next door, Simbana is facing the same reality.
“I don’t know what else to do or where to go. I don’t know if I should fix my home myself, get loans or just sell it as is, but if I do that, I don’t have a place to live,” she said.
The mother is also searching for answers after insurance denied her claim.
She’s looking to the Lehigh County Authority for help since the sinkhole opened after the Lehigh Authority was working on a water main outside their homes.
She attended a meeting this month explaining her situation to the board and asking for help.
69 News reached out to the Lehigh County Authority they provided this statement:
“The sinkhole and water main break that occurred in January were stabilized and repaired within the public right-of-way, and water service was restored. We understand how disruptive and stressful this situation has been for the residents involved, and we are committed to approaching it with care and sensitivity. LCA is actively working through the insurance process and coordinating with all appropriate parties as that review continues. While we are evaluating what support may be available, our focus remains on supporting those affected and maintaining the safety and reliability of our system.”
Coming up on Tuesday at 5: 69 News will tell you the impact the sinkhole has had on Simbana and the steps she has taken to get help.
Both families have set up GoFundMe pages where they are asking the community for help.
Simbana family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-and-my-daughter-return-home-after-ground-collapse?lang=en_US
Alvarado family: https://gofund.me/b67ebea31