Bay Ridge residents say it’s like some Biblical plague or something.
They’re weirded out by a rash of sinkholes in their neighborhood — eight by Community Board 10’s count since a massive one appeared June 28.
“We’re waiting for the frogs to appear like in Biblical plagues,” said Justin Brannan, spokesman for City Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) — who asked DEP to examine Bay Ridge water lines throughout the neighborhood and replace any that pose potential danger.
“Bay Ridge,” Brannan said, “has become the sinkhole capital of the world. It’s a title we don’t want.”
The first sinkhole, on 92nd St. near Third Ave., appeared when a recently planted street tree suddenly sank into the earth. Now there’s a 25-by-30-foot trench in the road where workers will likely toil until summer’s end. The 112-year-old sewer pipe they’re working on is 70 feet below ground.
“Bay Ridge might be sinking,” said neighborhood resident Jay Mateo, 18. “I’m not gonna lie — I’m scared.”
There are aging water pipes in nearly every neighorhood in the city that could go kaput at any time. People in Bay Ridge are puzzled: Why us; why now?
“It’s weird,” said Rocky Schiano, 50, whose shop, Street Sounds, is by the site of the vanished tree. “Is it an omen of things for the future? We wonder when it’s going to stop.”
“I’m praying that nothing else happens,” said Vivi Houdalis, 56, who lives next to the hole on 92nd St.
The other big sinkhole, which erupted a week ago, almost ate two cars on 79th St. near Fourth Ave. The city Department of Environmental Protection has finished repairs there. But Maddie Flood, 23, one of the car owners, doesn’t quite trust the ground beneath her feet anymore.
“Walking down the street now, I definitely feel a little uneasy that a hole could open underneath me,” she said.
Community Board 10 has gotten complaints about six smaller sinkholes, said district manager Josephine Beckmann.
Three were caused by breaks in homeowners’ sewer lines; one was a problem with a catch basin; and the cause of two is being investigated, she said, adding her office got a wave of worried calls from residents about sinkholes on their streets after the June 28th cave-in.
“People were concerned and wanted to make sure they wouldn’t have the same thing happ en,” she said.
A DEP official dismissed the idea there’s a pattern of trouble Bay Ridge residents should be worried about.
“The fact that sewer mains were compromised on 79th and 92nd Sts. — within 15 blocks of each other — is a coincidence,” the official said.
With Jacob Winters
lcroghan@nydailynews.com
