SC Department of Transportation officials say they're not sure if the drainage project they're working on in Georgetown caused a sinkhole that swallowed part of a building last week, but the DOT is taking claims from property owners who think their buildings may have been damaged by the sinkhole.

One by one, those property owners met with Georgetown city and county officials and DOT engineers Wednesday, to pick up claim forms and collect information.

Many property owners near the spot where the sinkhole swallowed part of the Parrish Place retail building last week say they have found that their floors are sloping and walls are cracking.

The owner of Georgetown Animal Clinic on Dozier Street, less than a block from the sinkhole, hasn't found any damage yet, but he was among those who met with officials, just in case.

"Basically to try to be pre-emptive and gather as much information as possible," said Dr. Robert Hall.

The DOT pumped water out from under city streets for several weeks, as part of a $14 million drainage project for the city. DOT engineers aren't ready to say that the drainage work is what caused the sinkhole.

"We've got a team assembled that's trying to do everything they can to try to perform tests and do research to try to determine the cause," said DOT district construction engineer Kyle Berry.

Property owners who have found cracks and other structural problems in their buildings say they have been told to hire engineers to help assess the damage, but that costs a lot of money and they don't believe they should have to pay the bill.

"Why should we hire the engineer?" asked Cindy Matthews, chief financial officer for Coastal Staffing Services  "The city should be hiring an engineer, DOT should be hiring an engineer. That's money coming out of our pockets. We didn't cause this damage. Somebody did."

Matthews said the city has offered to place monitoring equipment in the building to keep track of the cracks and other damage. She said the cracks have gotten worse since NewsChannel 15 visited their building Monday. 

Matthews said the company's employees are shredding old papers, backing up computer files and getting ready to move to a new office, if need be.

The DOT has temporarily halted the dewatering process that was a part of the drainage project, while they study the cause of the sinkhole.