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SinkholesS
A sinkhole in Pasco County forces out some homeowners and leaves others worried there could be more damage.
© baltimore.cbslocal.com
Derek Valcourt has more on the serious damage it caused.
The storm caused lots of localized flooding, some road closures, even some power outages, and one sinkhole in Baltimore just got a lot worse.
Cell phone cameras captured this funnel in the water off Cobb Island in Charles County during a tornado warning that set of sirens, but it was severe rains that did the real damage.
© GOHSEPGOHSEP Bayou Corne Status Update shocks 350 evacuees and others at public meeting, 24 August
"If it's a cavern fracture, failure, whatever, there's little that you can do," Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) civil engineer who is coordinating the science group studying the sinkhole, Chris Knotts told the crowd at the public meeting Friday night in Pierre Part, Louisiana.
A "low but audible rumble in the crowd" followed that statement by Knotts, according to David Mitchell, reporting for The Advocate.
"If it's as simple as a casing, yes (it can be fixed)," Knotts said.
Several agencies provided a sinkhole disaster overview Friday for approximately 350 people at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church's parish hall in Pierre Part. They addressed recent sinkhole developments and the continuing natural gas releases preceding the sinkhole by about two months and the ongoing gas being released.
On August 20, the hole kept spreading to more than 20m wide, 30m long and 7m deep, causing serious traffic jams on Hanoi's key role. The hole is very close to the USilk City apartment building, invested by the Song Da Thang Long JS Company.
The hole can continue expanding.
According to Nam Cuong Group, the investor of Le Van Luong Road, said that the road was broken because of the construction of the foundation of the USilk City building, which is located close to the road.
© Carmarthen Journal The road between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey which collapsed during last week’s floods
The B4328, between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey, is a popular lane for motorists around the area who have now been forced to find other routes.
The hole appeared last week, after torrential rain caused flooding across the area, with fire crews inundated with calls.
Councillor David Simpson, ward member for Lampeter Velfrey, said he was first told about the hole on Monday, August 6.
"The rain took away a piece of road about 40 yards across - maybe 30 - and across the width of the road.
"I think it was about 20 foot deep."
Closed circuit cameras in Taiwan captured a man being swallowed by a sinkhole. He was walking when the ground disappeared. Rescuers were not able to save the man. Officials believe the heavy rains washed away the soil under the walkway. At least 23 people, including this man, have died from the typhoon's rains. Typhoon Saola was hovering near the Philippines last week and is expected to move on to China.
Two people have been killed after a section of road caved-in on a busy city street. Three others, including a baby girl, were injured when the crater appeared in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday. They were saved when rescue workers gained access to the 20ft-wide hole via a drainage tunnel.
Two passers-by died from injuries sustained in the fall. Incredibly, the baby girl only sustained minor grazes to her head.
Two passers-by died from injuries sustained in the fall. Incredibly, the baby girl only sustained minor grazes to her head.
© ReutersCrater: Two passers-by were killed when a section of road collapsed in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday afternoon
© Associated PressBubbles come to the surface where pipelines come across Bayou Corne near Pierre Part, La.
Mark Cartwright, president of United Brine Services, a subsidiary of Texas Brine Co., said the company spent the last week "intensely focused" on an emergency response as they try to figure out the cause behind a sinkhole near Bayou Corne.
Cartwright said they'll be drilling a relief well to investigate a brine cavern they own, which is housed within the Napoleonville salt dome. It will take at least 40 days to drill the well, and scientists have speculated that the 372-foot-wide and 422-foot-deep sinkhole might be related to structural problems within the cavern, he said.
"Our efforts are going to be more focused on diagnostics, and looking into what caused this event," Cartwright said at a press conference in Gonzales.
Commissioner of Conservation Jim Welsh ordered the company Thursday to drill a well and investigate the salt cavern and "further evaluate potential causes of the subsidence near its well site," as well as obtain samples of cavern content.
The 400-square-foot gaping hole is in Assumption Parish, La., about 50 miles south of Baton Rouge.
The sinkhole sits in the middle of a heavily wooded space where it has consumed all of the soaring cypress trees that had been there. Flyover photos show some of the treetops still visible through the mud.
Authorities enacted a mandatory evacuation for between 100 and150 homes in the area, but most people have chosen to stay, according to the Mayor's Office of Emergency Preparedness. If any of the dangers seem to become more imminent, the order will be escalated to a forced evacuation.
Members of a Louisiana National Guard crew that flew over the giant sink hole in Assumption Parish reported it is now larger.
The helicopter crew used infrared equipment to observe a 10 to 20 foot growth on the north and south ends.
Officials have ordered Texas Brine, the company responsible for a salt cavern in the Bayou Corne area, to immediately drill a relief well to investigate.
Meanwhile, scientists with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality were on site testing Thursday for naturally occurring radioactive materials.
