FRASER, Mich. – Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said repairs are happening at "lightning speed" on the collapsed 15 Mile Road sewer interceptor which created a sinkhole in Fraser.
Miller held a news conference Wednesday morning (watch above) to announce digging has started at the site.
"We're rolling ... and I would just say how quickly this is happening. I know if you live here you might not think that," Miller said. "But if you think of a project this size, and it really only happened 3 and 1/2 months ago, during that time we have designed it, we bid it, the excavation has started, some of these houses have already been demolished. The bypass has been completed. The bulkhead is in. That is happening, really, at lightning speed for a project this size."
Officials said steps will be taken to eliminate the odor being emitted from the sewer hole.
Related: Michigan Senate votes not to send grant money to help with Fraser sinkhole repairs
The sinkhole formed on Dec. 24, 2016. Twenty families were forced out of their homes on Christmas Eve. In March, two homes over the sinkhole, which were condemned due to severe damage, were demolished.
WATCH: Time-lapse video shows Fraser sinkhole house demolition
“This is a huge step in progress today once this comes down I think it begins the healing for the people in Fraser,” Fraser Mayor Joe Nichols said.
Watch the update from noon on demolition day below:
What happened
Crews have been working around the clock since the drain interceptor collapsed Dec. 24 beneath a neighborhood along 15 Mile Road near Utica Road. The collapse forced families from their homes and eventually sent sewage into the Clinton River.
The sinkhole showed its first signs of the impending environmental damage to follow on Christmas Eve when the Albu family began hearing cracking noises from the foundation of their home.
The situation unfolded during a 911 call made by the Albu's: “Uh, yeah, I think our house is going to fall. I'm sorry?"
"What do you mean you think your house is going to fall,” the dispatcher replies.
First signs of trouble
Elizabeth Marentette grew up in what’s left of her home in Fraser. The home is in a neighborhood where she and 21 other families were given only minutes to evacuate.
The next day, it was determined that an 11-foot sewage pipe cracked and was leaking raw sewage underneath the Fraser neighborhood.
Here's a short video explaining the collapse of the pipe:
MORE: 11 communities to foot bill for Fraser sinkhole fix
The fix for the interceptor is reportedly around $80 million.
Watch "Fraser sinkhole: The ticking time bomb of Macomb County" here: