DANVILLE-- Groundhog Day has turned into Groundhog Doomsday in Montour County.
Crews are killing off dozens of the rodents because of what they believe the underground animals are doing to the levee system along the river.
Almost 70 holes that were dug by groundhogs along Danville's levee were plugged with concrete Friday after being filled with carbon monoxide gas on Tuesday. Danville officials say the groundhogs were weakening the levees.
Everyone Newswatch 16 spoke with on Friday agreed with the borough's decision. People who live along Danville's levee say they know what it is like to worry about flooding. Kate Wisneski says she lived through it before.
"It's devastating. We had to get out in rowboats," Wisneski said.
"I've been evacuated a couple of times when the river got high but never actually flooded," Eric Ebling said.
Danville has a levee system in place to protect people from flooding, but officials say lately they've noticed something wrong with that system.
Danville officials say groundhog burrows have been showing up here for several years and the animals were starting to damage the borough's levee system.
So on the advice from the state's game commission, Danville officials decided to get rid of the groundhogs. Earlier this week, 67 holes dug by the critters were filled with carbon monoxide-producing cartridges to kill the groundhogs, which were burrowed inside Danville's levee system. Officials say if there were a flood, the levee would not work properly, because the groundhog holes weaken the levee.
"I live right along the dike, so that's a concern of mine, especially because I don't have flood insurance. If we need to get rid of a couple of groundhogs I guess I'm okay with that," Chris Brown said.
Crews now worked on the second phase of the project, which is filling the holes with concrete. Everyone Newswatch 16 spoke with is happy this project was done.
"I personally like my living room and my TV and all that stuff more than the groundhogs, plus they're everywhere, all over, so there will be more coming around anyway," Brown said.
Eric Ebling of Danville says he feels bad for the groundhogs but is glad the work was done.
"We do need to keep the dike intact and keep the flood out, but maybe they could have relocated them or something if they had the opportunity," Ebling said.
Danville officials say the third step of the process will be done in the near future, which is putting dirt on the concrete and reseeding it to blend in. The project costs $45,000 and was paid for with state money.