Sinkholes
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Family

Shock and heartbreak: UK families evacuated over fears their homes will fall into the sea after waves destroy coast

James Rush and Martin Robinson and Rob Cooper and Matt Chorley and Damien Gayle
The Daily Mail
Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:33 UTC
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© Daily MailCollapse: A huge hole opens up in a road alongside the railway line at Dawlish, Devon, which is left hanging in mid-air after the sea wall was washed away during storms.
Hamlets on the Somerset Levels were being turned into 'ghost villages' yesterday as more homes were evacuated amid rising flood waters, as the military were drafted in last night to help with flood defences.

Householders attempting to stay put despite the water surging into their properties were warned by loudspeakers on police helicopters of an 'imminent threat to life', as more rain lashed into the area.

Royal Marines have been assisting with sandbag defences in the flood-hit region, which had been told to expect another 1.6in of rainfall by this morning.
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Sinkhole appears in Hemel Hempstead, UK - Fourth major sinkhole to hit country in two weeks


The Telegraph, UK
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 10:03 UTC
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© Twitter @HertsFRSControlProperties evacuated after 35ft sinkhole appears in cul-de-sac
As the UK is battered by storms, seventeen homes are evacuated after a 35ft sinkhole appears


A 35ft wide sink hole has opened up in a suburban cul-de-sac, forcing homeowners to flee their properties.

Police officers cordoned off the road after the crater appeared at 7.30am following weeks of torrid rain and 17 homes were evacuated.

The sinkhole measured 35ft wide and 20ft deep in Oatridge Gardens, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, according to police.

A force spokesman said: "The hole, which is in a residential cul de sac, has mainly affected the road.

Comment: Sinkhole opens up in Barnehurst back garden, UK

M2 motorway closed in Kent, England after monster 15ft-deep sinkhole suddenly opens up in central reservation

30 foot-deep sinkhole swallows car overnight in High Wycombe, England

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Alarm Clock

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Terror Masters, Kenya mall terror attack, Navy Yard shooting, Mind Control, Electrophonic Meteors

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 22 Sep 2013 18:00 UTC
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Al-Shabab terrorists, aka CIA/Mossad/MI6/DGSE dupes, terrorise people in Nairobi Kenya on behalf of their corporate sponsors
In the following SOTT Talk Radio show from September 2013, the SOTT Editors discussed the bloody terror attack at a mall in Nairobi, Kenya, the mass shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC (the 16th mass shooting of Obama's reign), secret government Mind Control, the 'strange sky sounds' and 'electrophonic meteors'.

Running Time: 01:59:00

Download: MP3

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Sinkholes opening up all over the world: Here's a tiny sample (VIDEO)


Daily Mirror, UK
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:22 UTC
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These unsuspecting victims were caught on camera as they narrowly cheated death as the ground dramatically gave way beneath them

One minute, you're going about your daily business and the next, you're being sucked into a killer sinkhole.

These unsuspecting victims were caught on camera as they narrowly cheated death as the ground dramatically gave way beneath them.



Three cars were sent crashing into an enormous sinkhole in Chicago last November when the road gave way .

Miraculously only one driver suffered minor injuries during the jaw-dropping incident, as the vehicles were dragged into the monstrous hole.



A teenager talking on her mobile phone had to be rescued by firefighters after she plunged 20 feet into a sinkhole.

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Sinkhole opens up in Barnehurst back garden, UK

Melissa Hills
thisislocallondon.co.uk
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 08:49 UTC
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Gretel Davidson, 55, of Holmesdale Crescent, thought her daughter Mia, 12, was exaggerating when she called her to say a huge black hole had appeared in the middle of their lawn.
A giant sinkhole measuring 17 feet deep and 10 feet wide has appeared in a Barnehurst back garden.

Gretel Davidson, 55, of Holmesdale Crescent, thought her daughter Mia, 12, was exaggerating when she called her to say a huge black hole had appeared in the middle of their lawn.

The radiographer at Darent Valley Hospital did not realise the extent of the hole until she got home and peered into the void last Wednesday.

Gretel said: "I just feel totally helpless. Mia rang me to say 'Mum there is a massive hole in the garden'.

"I didn't really believe her and just thought she was going over the top.

"It is just unbelievable to think a hole that size could appear over night and out of nowhere." Feeling totally helpless Gretel knocked on her neighbour's doors to try and get some help but nobody had any idea what to do.

She added: "I got in touch with the council but they said they couldn't help because it's my own property.
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No Entry

M2 motorway closed in Kent, England after monster 15ft-deep sinkhole suddenly opens up in central reservation

Euan Stretch
The Mirror, UK
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 16:40 UTC
The Highways Agency said the hole measured 16ft (5m) by 6ft (2m) and was 50ft (15m) deep

M2 sinkhole

Thousands of motorists were caught up in travel misery tonight after a monster, 15ft-deep sinkhole appeared in the middle of a busymotorway.

A ten-mile section of the M2 in north Kent was closed off this afternoon when the 16-foot-wide hole appeared in the central reservation.

Highways Agency experts are examining the hole - the size of a double decker bus - which is believed to have been caused by recent heavy rainfall.

It is thought that both carriageways between junction 5 near Sittingbourne and junction 6 near Faverham would not re-open until tomorrow at the earliest.

A Highway Agency spokesman said: "We have had to close both carriageways because of the discovery of a hole in the central reservation."

Comment: Note the comment here by AA president Edmund King:
"Thankfully this was on the central reservation. If a hole of this nature had opened up on a carriageway it could well have led to tragedy. I don't think this is anything to do with potholes or general maintenance. There seems to have been some structural anomaly - perhaps some sort of geological fault or an old mineshaft.

Clearly, it's a concern that this has happened on a busy motorway that leads to and from the coast. Engineers will want to deal with this as soon as possible. If the stretch of motorway stays shut it will cause traffic problems, but safety must come first."


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Attention

Car-sized boulder breaks off mountain in French Alps, smashes into first carriage and leaves train dangling over steep embankment - 2 dead, 10 injured


BBC
Sat, 08 Feb 2014 10:37 UTC
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© GregLeclerc, exclusive by Nice-MatinThe train with two carriages was carrying 34 passengers when the accident happened
Two people were killed when a falling boulder derailed a tourist train in the southern French Alps, local officials and firefighters say.

At least nine people were injured.

The train was travelling from Nice to the town of Digne-les-Bains on a line which crosses gorges and viaducts at up to 1,000m (3,200ft) above sea level.

Images from the scene show the two-carriage train dangling from the tracks, the side of one carriage caved in by the rock.

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Firefighters save dog from sinkhole in Buffalo, New York


USA Today
Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:22 UTC
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© APFirefighter Michael Paveljack, right, gets a kiss from Mack the dog he rescued from a sink hole in Buffalo, N.Y. Sunday Feb. 2, 2014.
A German shepherd is back on solid ground after being rescued from a sinkhole that opened up in a Buffalo park.

The 3-year-old dog dropped more than 10 feet to the bottom of the watery hole during a Sunday morning walk with his owner, Mattie Moore, who nearly fell in herself.

Buffalo firefighter Michael Paveljack said rescuers put plywood around the 2-foot hole to stabilize the ground, then widened the gap for the rescue. Paveljack climbed down a ladder and fashioned a makeshift harness from the dog's leash that allowed rescuers to hoist it from the hole.

Moore told The Buffalo News the dog has a sore hip but otherwise seems fine.

The sinkhole appears to have been caused by a broken underground water pipe that eroded the soil.

Source: The Associated Press.
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Galaxy

Best of the Web: Signs of Change in January 2014

HawkkeyDavis Channel
YouTube
Fri, 07 Feb 2014 04:35 UTC
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Dazzling green fireball filmed above Belgium, January 2014
Mysterious booms across the US, often occuring in and around earthquakes - A series of unusual earthquakes in Australia - More 'strange sky sounds' - More meteor fireballs raining down - Massive sinkholes swallowing houses, cars and people - Storm after storm battering the UK and Western Europe, bringing massive waves, widespread flooding and landslides - Mass whale stranding in New Zealand - Polar Vortex (twice!) freezing most of the US in ice age conditions and making it colder than Mars - Major flooding in Florida, while hurricane-force winds smash into Oregon and the Carolinas - Tonga flattened by most powerful cyclone to hit the region half a century - A strong earthquake hit Puerto Rico - 100,000 people affected by major flooding in the Philippines, while another 40,000 were displaced by heavy rainfall in Indonesia - Bats falling out of the sky as wildfires rage in Australia's record heatwave - 'Winter wildfires' raging across snow-covered US - An eerily quiet Sun that hasn't been seen since the 17th Century - Several volcanic eruptions in Indonesia causing multiple deaths and the evacuation of thousands - Another strong earthquake in New Zealand - More mass animal deaths, including a whole pod of pilot whales off the coast of Florida - Record-breaking snowfall across the US...

2014 has stated with a bang, literally, with a surge of loud booms being heard and felt throughout much of North America. But then again, didn't the last few years start this way? This video includes strange and extreme weather, geological and cosmic events, covering most of the month of January. Things aren't looking good for certain few heavily populated areas...

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Georgia man rushes to save wife from 8-foot sinkhole


foxnews.com
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 14:42 UTC
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A Georgia man ran to the rescue after his wife fell into a sinkhole that opened up near the front door of their home.

Aaron Kent, of Atlanta, said his wife, who is 74, was leaving for work Wednesday morning when she stepped outside and plunged into the sinkhole, which he estimated to be 8 feet deep and 12 feet wide.

By himself, Kent managed to pull her out. She only suffered minor injuries, according to MyFoxAtlanta.com.

"I think it scared her more than... anything else" he told the station.

Watershed management officials said the sinkhole opened up overnight because of a faulty storm water line installed underneath the house, perhaps decades ago, that washed away the soil.

Source: myfoxatlanta.com
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