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Sinkhole in Williamson County
A Spillertown couple woke up to a terrifying sight just outside their house when a sinkhole opened up just feet from their door.

The hole seems to have stopped growing but officials say it's 40 feet in diameter and they're unsure how deep it goes.

James Swann says Saturday you couldn't see the water through all the trees lining this pond. By Tuesday, those trees had vanished into a 40-foot wide sink hole.

"There was several trees but they'd just disappear. It was interesting," Swann described the scene. "Just straight down and gone."

Bob Gibson with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources doesn't know much about the sinkhole, except, it sits over an old coal mine.

"Other than it's a pit subsidence, that's really all I know," Gibson said. "It's roughly 40 feet in diameter and we're gonna gauge how deep below ground water it is right now. If you look at it, it's something like 20 feet from the ground surface to water level and then below water level I don't know yet, we're gonna probe that a little bit later."


He says that the rain last week might have affected the situation, but didn't cause it.

"In this particular incidence I think it's mostly a function of this thing is laying dormant for a number of years, we had an arch that formed in the rock and the last couple of feet just gave away," Gibson explained.

He also noticed other smaller sinkholes on the site.

"Our brief look around I can see that there was a small sinkhole partially developed over here in the weeds as well as perhaps here in the yard," Gibson continued. "Now these look to be older and they're not very well developed."

Swann says the sinkhole made for a terrifying sight.

"There was a big pit washed out in front of the lake and then the lake was just dumping in," Swann explained. "Sounded like Niagara Falls and it was going so fast it was foam coming from that water."

Swann rents the home on the property to a couple, who escaped without getting hurt. They'll stay in a motel until state inspectors deem the ground safe. Gibson hopes to start repairs soon, but says with no state budget in place, those repairs could take a while.