A heart shaped sink hole developed over the weekend in the parking lot of the McDonald’s in Pomeroy. The sink hole is located in what was the storm sewer for the Village of Pomeroy until a replacement was constructed last year.

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POMEROY — A heart-shaped sinkhole will not affect the storm sewer system in the Village of Pomeroy according to Village Administrator Paul Hellman.

The sinkhole is located along the river side of the McDonald’s parking lot on the west end of Pomeroy.

Hellman said that the hole stemmed from a portion of the old storm sewer which is no longer used by the village. The old storm sewer had not been in use by the village since the replacement of several storm sewers within the past several months.

The storm sewer was being used by McDonald’s as a parking lot storm drain.

Hellman stated that the collapse would have flooded much of the Monkey Run area had the new storm sewer not been installed prior to the collapse.

The storm sewer replacements were needed after flooding in May 2011, according to Hellman.

The flooding and heavy rains caused stability problems in the old system, prompting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to approve funding for the repairs.

The project totaled nearly $1 million at no direct cost to the village. FEMA funding paid for 75 percent of the project, with 12.5 percent coming from the state EMA, 10 percent from Ohio Public Works Commission and 2.5 percent from Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA). A sum of $30,000 in loans were forgiven by OWDA.

Storm sewers were replaced on Cave Street, State Street, Locust Street, Mulberry Avenue, East Main Street and West Main Street.

The final site cleanup on the storm sewer projects will take place in the spring when the weather breaks, according to Hellman.