Sinkholes
S


Arrow Down

Vehicle falls into sinkhole in central Florida


wptv.com
Sun, 08 Nov 2015 13:57 UTC
WPTV YouReporter Shelley Jaggernauth sent in photos of a sinkhole swallowing a vehicle at a repair shop in central Florida.

Shelley said her brother was working at Indy's Auto Center when he and a co-worker heard a sound similar to a car door closing. She says they looked out front and saw this:

Image
According to Shelley, an attempt was made to remove the vehicle from the hole using a standard tow truck, but they had to call in a larger truck from a company that tows "semi" trucks.

No one was injured.

Shelley's brother says the hole was approximately 18 feet deep.

Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Mysterious giant sinkhole swallows at least 15 vehicles in Mississippi


RT
Sun, 08 Nov 2015 07:51 UTC
Sinkhole in Mississippi
© noblejonesontv / Instagram
A 15-meter-wide sinkhole has recently opened up in a city in Mississippi and swallowed at least 15 vehicles, police said, adding that what caused the sinkhole is still unknown and is being investigated.

The sinkhole appeared in the parking lot of the new IHOP restaurant on Frontage Road in the city of Meridian. The customers at the restaurant told local WTOK-TV that they heard several booms that were quickly followed by the electricity loss.


Comment: See sinkholes for more events of this nature.

Read More...
Arrow Down

100ft-deep sinkhole swallows garden in Cornwall, UK

John Bett
The Mirror, UK
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:07 UTC
Image
© SWNS
A 93-year-old woman miraculously survived after a 100ft-deep sinkhole suddenly opened up in front of her missing her by just inches.

Stunned Kathleen Angel watched on in horror as the giant sinkhole 'devoured' her garden. The huge death trap appeared after builders burst a water pipe during work to construct two new homes nearby. Kathleen, a widow, who lives in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, said: "It was a great shock. I heard something and looked up and there it was, a very deep, big hole in the middle of my garden. It is very concerning, very much so."

The hole turned out to be a disused mine shaft, which neighbours estimated to be over 100ft deep, and has now been cordoned off by wire fencing. Next-door neighbour Jim Ashford, 92, said: "Kathleen has not been coping well, when she heard about it I thought it was going to finish her off. "She lives on her own, I know her son-in-law comes to visit her, but she is a very reclusive person."

His son Nick added: "The building work is a living nightmare. It's been going on for two months and we were given no warning beforehand about what would happen. "The effects of it all are terrible, and it all culminated on Saturday, just as the rugby was on, when suddenly a 100ft hole appeared in the garden next door. "If Kathleen was standing over it she would have died.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Two families displaced by sinkhole in Seffner, Florida


Tampa Bay Times
Sat, 31 Oct 2015 19:54 UTC
Image
Sinkhole in Seffner
Families who were forced to evacuate their homes after a sinkhole opened Friday night in a yard off Clay Pit Road will not be allowed to move back in pending an assessment by an engineer.

Because the hole is on private property, it's the residents' responsibility to bring in a geotechnical engineer to check out the hole, said Jon-Paul Lavandeira, director of Hillsborough County's rapid response team. Until then, county officials will monitor the area.

They have asked residents to stay away from the depression, which has grown since the initial report that it was 27 feet deep and 22 feet wide, Lavandeira said Saturday afternoon, although he couldn't say how much. It has moved toward the home and duplex that were already evacuated, so no additional residents have been displaced, he added.

Read More...
Arrow Down

Aerial video of sinkhole in Florida's interstate 4 freeway


The Guardian
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 12:55 UTC
Image
15-foot wide sinkhole opens in central Florida
Aerial footage captures the scene after a sinkhole opened up on Interstate 4 in central Florida during rush hour.

Emergency crews are seen responding to the incident that shut down the I-4 exit ramp on Monday afternoon.

A car was trapped, front-end first, in the sudden depression in the road.

The driver is reported to have escaped safely.

Read More...
Blue Planet

Massive crack in earth mysteriously opens up in Bighorn Mountains

David Strege
GrindTV
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:58 UTC
Image

Hunters on a private ranch in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming stumbled upon an incredible and mysterious scene: a massive crack in the earth that in some places resembles a mini Grand Canyon.

SNS Outfitter & Guides first reported the anomaly on its Facebook page on Friday, saying it "appeared in the last two weeks on a ranch we hunt in the Bighorn Mountains. Everyone here is calling it 'the gash.' It's a really incredible sight."

Comment: The earth is opening up on every contintent. See our events map for more incidents:



Read More...
Arrow Down

Massive section of Swiss mountain breaks off and destroys forest below

Jake Polden
Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 23 Oct 2015 17:40 UTC
Image
2,000 cubic metres of solid rock that fell caused an avalanche on the mountain of Mel de la Niva

This is the incredible moment a huge piece of rock broke free from the side of a mountain and plummeted 1,000 feet in Switzerland.

The incredible footage was captured by a geologist who just happened to be filming when the rock fall occurred on a mountain in the Swiss Alps.

According to local reports the 2,000 cubic metres of solid rock that fell caused an avalanche on the mountain of Mel de la Niva, near Evolene.

Geologists studying the mountain had noted geological activity prior to the incident and the site had been under surveillance since 2013, reported Le Nouvelliste.

Major movements were detected last week and the hamlet of Arbey and a road below the mountain had been evacuated and shut the day before.

Read More...
Arrow Down

Massive sinkhole gobbles up car in Sicily


thelocal.it
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 18:48 UTC
Image
© Vigili del FuocoThe sinkhole opened up on a road near Catania.
A parked car was swallowed up by a sinkhole that suddenly opened up on a road in Sicily after heavy rain on Wednesday evening.

The car plunged five metres through the eight-metre wide hole on a road in Valverde, in the province of Catania.

The female driver made a miraculous escape having just parked the vehicle before the hole opened up, Corriere reported.

It was then hauled out by firefighters with a crane. The scene was captured on the video below.

Read More...
Arrow Down

Large sinkhole develops in Union City, California - suddenly fills with water

Cornell Barnard
ABC7 News
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 23:44 UTC
Image
© City of Union City
First a sinkhole opened up in the East Bay and then water started mysteriously gushing into the hole, swallowing up part of the street.

The sinkhole developed early Wednesday afternoon on Alvarado Boulevard and New Haven Street in Union City and crews are working to patch up the problem.

It's still unclear why the sinkhole developed. The water was everywhere, bubbling up from the middle of the once busy intersection, creating a lake at Alvarado Boulevard.

"It's a lot of water," said Pooja Sharma, a Union City resident. "It's very scary."

The source of the water remains a mystery. It began when a sinkhole about 10 feet by 12 feet wide, developed around 2 p.m. Wednesday. No one could say how deep the hole was. The intersection was quickly closed to traffic.

Hours later water began filling the sinkhole, overflowing down the street. Crews jackhammered into the asphalt to find a source of the leak, possibly a ruptured water pipe nearby.

Some neighbors worry more sinkholes could develop. "It's crazy. It could happen in our house," said one resident.
Image
© ABC

Comment: Sinkholes - A Sign of the Times?

Read More...
Arrow Down

Sinkhole swallows large stretch of road in San José, Costa Rica

Zach Dyer
The Tico Times
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 20:25 UTC
Like the saying goes: September showers bring October...sinkholes.
Image
© Alberto Font/The Tico Times
The rainy season finally started in earnest in these last few weeks and the arrival of heavy rains has municipal authorities scrambling to address the flooding and sinkholes that have become a seasonal headache for drivers and pedestrians alike. The National Meteorological Institute announced Monday that heavy rains were expected this week and the next for the Central Valley and the Pacific coast.

The latest sinkhole to appear this year was a 6-meter wide, 11-meter deep sinkhole that opened up over the weekend on the street near the Transportes Costarricenses Panameños bus station in Plaza Víquez. City workers started repairing the gaping hole that opened between Avenue 20 and 5th Street on Tuesday.

The Tico Times was not able to reach San José Public Services Director Marco Corrales for comment after several unanswered calls to his cellphone, but the Municipality of San José released a brief statement explaining that the aging sewer infrastructure and the heavy weight of vehicles passing over the high traffic stretch of road all contributed to the hole that opened over the weekend.

News website CRHoy.com reported that it would take between four and six weeks to complete the repairs to the busy road. Corrales told the news website that the sinkhole was on the municipality's list of pending repairs before Mother Nature forced it to the top of the list. Corrales said that the repairs could cost as much as ₡5 million, or roughly $9,400.

Aging infrastructure, lacking maintenance and trash that blocks drains and backs up sewers caused another sight last month. On Sept. 25, a sudden downpour flooded San José's Chinatown when a sewer line backed up.

Sinkholes and flooding are a pain, but there is a silver lining: memes.

Image
© The Tico Times
Read More...