Sinkholes
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Huge sinkhole swallows car and driver in Rockville Centre, Long Island

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Rescue crews rescued a Long Island woman after her car was swallowed by a former cesspool that opened up the ground.

A woman's car was swallowed up by a huge sinkhole right in her own driveway in Rockville Centre.

"It's really hard to describe, it's just all of sudden swish, and stop," said Gail Sorrentino, sinkhole victim.

Gail Sorrentino took a very strange ride in her car Friday afternoon and she didn't even have to leave her driveway.

"I pulled in I'm looking at the arbor, and then I'm looking at the dirt," Sorrentino said, "The car just went down with no sound, no booms, no rattles no nothing."

After pulling into the spot where she's parked every day for years, she found herself and her car suddenly underground after the earth swallowed her Subaru with Gail still in the driver's seat.

There was nothing she could do but call 911.

"I said, 'I'm calling from my car which is in a sinkhole in my driveway.' And there was this pause at the other end. And she said, 'Ma'am?' I said, 'I'm in the car!'" Sorrentino said.

"You handled yourself very well," said John Thorp, Rockville Centre Fire Chief.

"Thank you!" Sorrentino said.

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Massive 40-foot deep sinkhole forms at busy Ottawa intersection

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© John Holtby and Brian BancroftThis sinkhole formed early Friday after a road collapse in downtown Ottawa.
24-hour work by Rideau Transit Group began Wednesday for light rail transit system

A sinkhole eight metres wide and 12 metres deep has opened up at the construction site digging the eastern entrance to Ottawa's light rail tunnel.

The cause isn't yet known, city officials said. No one was injured.

Ottawa police reported the sinkhole on Waller Street, just south of Laurier Avenue, at about 1 a.m. Police said the road collapsed leaving a hole on the Transitway near the University of Ottawa.

A news release from the City of Ottawa confirmed the sinkhole formed where workers had been tunnelling for the eastern portal of the Confederation Line LRT project.

It said work crews from the Rideau Transit Group had begun 24-hour tunnelling operations on Wednesday, and that they were working at the site when the sinkhole formed.

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Sinkhole opens up under car in Burlington mall parking lot, Massachusetts

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A sinkhole opened up under a car in the parking lot of the Burlington Mall just after 3:30 Thursday afternoon.

The Burlington Fire Department said the sinkhole formed when the pavement buckled as the result of a water main break.

Emergency crews on the scene surrounded the vehicle with cones in the section of the parking lot near Sears.

The mall was closed at 5 p.m. due to water problems caused by the break in the main. The owner of the car was working inside the mall when the announcement was made.

"So we're all like closing the register, cleaning out the store, and then we just like left and went to the parking lot," says Kelly Gordon. "And that's when I saw my car."

Kelly had joked about the situation until she went out to the parking lot. "I was really, really mad and then I started crying when I got on the phone with my dad," she says.

Crews were working to fix the water main break late Thursday night and a spokesperson says the mall will be open at the normal time on Friday.

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British woman in critical condition after she and her car plunge into yet another sudden sinkhole

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Police at the scene of the accident in Caemawr Road, Morriston, Swansea.
A woman is critically ill in hospital after being injured when the ground apparently collapsed from under her car.

Emergency services were called to a house on Caemawr Road in Morriston yesterday morning, and the woman - who is in her 50s - was taken to hospital.

Police have launched an investigating into what happened, and are still waiting to interview her.

It is believed the car at the centre of the probe was parked at the rear of the property when a section of the garden collapsed under it, causing the vehicle to partially fall into a hole injuring her.

A South Wales Police spokesman added: "Emergency services were called to Caemawr Road in Morriston on Wednesday morning following reports that a woman had suffered injuries after being involved in an incident involving a car at the rear of a house.

"The woman, who is in her 50s, has been taken to Morriston Hospital with serious injuries.

"An investigation to establish what happened is underway."

Comment: A rare earthquake also hit south Wales yesterday:

4.1 magnitude earthquake hits south Wales


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Yet another sinkhole opens up in the UK, this time in Southampton

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The one metre wide sinkhold at Southampton Sports Centre
A sinkhole has appeared in a children's play area in Southampton.

Flooding has caused part of the Children's Pleasure Park at the city sports centre to disappear.

There is now a hole about one metre wide and up to four feet deep at the site in Bassett.

While the park remains open, three trampolines have been cordoned off as a safety precaution.

Fred Salter, who runs the park, said the hole first appeared on Friday when the area was covered in six inches of floodwater.

He said: I've never seen anything like this before at the sports centre.

"I am worried that it could happen anywhere around here because there was so much water running down the hole.

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Massive sinkhole almost swallows mini-van in Yonkers, New York

A water main break created a sinkhole that nearly entrapped a brand new mini-van
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A massive crater on a Yonkers street almost swallowed a brand new mini-van overnight.


Rafael Rodriguez tells News 12 he parks in front of his home on Mulberry Street all the time. But, Wednesday morning his van was teetering in the air on an angle over a massive hole. He learned later that a water main ruptured underneath the asphalt, which was already weak from snow and ice. "This was no ordinary pothole, it was a water main break that was happening underneath the surface causing the road to just open up...now, I have my car towed with damage, transmission, body damage and everything," says Rodriguez.

DPW crews on the scene say the hole is 5-feet deep, and the pipe burst was most likely caused by the frigid weather.

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Sinkhole swallows car's wheel in Wallington, London

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A five foot-wide sinkhole has opened up in the middle of a Wallington street.

The hole, which is around three feet deep, opened up and swallowed the wheel of a car in Maldon Road at 9am today.

Police have closed the road between Manor Road and Harcourt Road.

A statement from the police said: "The hole is in the road and is about 5ft wide and 3ft deep. A car had one of its wheels in the hole and the vehicle has now been recovered.

"It is believed the car was being driven at the time the hole opened up. There are no injuries reported. Sutton Council is aware."

Sinkholes have been reported around the country following the recent heavy rains.

The British Geological Survey said the country can expect more holes as the water table recedes following the bad weather.
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The hole, which is around three feet deep, opened up and swallowed the wheel of a car in Maldon Road at 9am.

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UK riddled with sinkholes! Another one opens up, this time in Suffolk

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Workers had to dig down into the hole to remove loose rubble as part of the repair process
A sinkhole, which forced the closure of a main road in the centre of Lowestoft, has been repaired.

The hole, which was about 15ft (5m) long and 8in (20cm) deep, appeared just off the A12 at Station Square.

A section of the road was closed in both directions overnight on Tuesday for investigations.

Catherine Brookes, from the Highways Agency, said while engineers had not found a "definite cause" the void had now been filled in.

The agency closed the A12 in both directions on Tuesday from 20:00 GMT as a safety precaution and traffic through Lowestoft was diverted via the A1117 and Oulton Broad.

The A12 was reopened on Wednesday morning, but Denmark Road remained closed between Station Square and Katwijk Way.

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Vehicle barely avoids sinkhole in Chadron, Nebraska

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© Julie PfisterThis vehicle barely avoided a sinkhole on Country Club Road Wednesday morning. The sinkhole is the result of a water main break. The road is closed until further notice
City water crews and county road crews are busy repairing a broken water main south of Chadron this morning.

The busted main created a sinkhole roughly 10 feet across and five feet deep on Country Club Road. The break was discovered early Wednesday morning when a vehicle barely avoided resulting sinkhole.

"The city's first and strongest concern is making sure that nobody was injured," said Chadron's public works director Milo Rust.

The driver and passenger were able to mostly avoid the sinkhole but the rear of their SUV did fall in to the edge of it, and they suffered bumps and bruises, Rust said.

The water main carries water from the city dams as part of the city's distribution system but is currently dedicated to providing water only to the golf course. No other customers are impacted by the break.

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Woman, dog rescued after being swallowed by massive sinkhole in Portland, Oregon

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Portland firefighters rescued a woman and her dog after they fell into a sinkhole in her back yard Tuesday night.

She was looking for her small poodle mix in her back yard when she fell into the sinkhole, which was 20-feet-deep and 3½ feet in diameter.

The woman lives near Southeast Clinton Street and 39th Avenue.

A neighbor heard her cries for help from the bottom of the pit and called 911.

Crews from the Portland Fire Bureau arrived around 7:25 p.m. and immediately used ropes and ladders to get the woman and her dog out of the sinkhole.

Portland Fire and Rescue Lt. Rich Chatman said firefighters at the scene were amazed the woman and her dog were not seriously hurt.