Sinkholes
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Huge landslide demolishes US-441 in North Carolina


Park officials now believe they know what caused the massive landslide, which took out a football field-sized portion of Newfound Gap Road (US 441) on the North Carolina side.

Officials said they found a subsurface spring underneath the landslide site and they aren't quite sure how long its been there. They said the spring, along with last week's massive amounts of rainfall, contributed to the landslide Wednesday morning, near mile marker 22 between Collins Creek and Webb Overlook.

"We were unaware of this subsurface spring which causes embankment failure," said Acting Deputy Superintendent Alan Sumeriski.

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Video: Sinkhole swallows car in Brazil - literally!

From the first few frames of this video, you can tell that something has gone wrong with the car being filmed, though it takes our intrepid videographer a little while to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. What happened seems to be a sinkhole opening in a Brazilian road and swallowing an automobile whole like an enraged mud elemental. For those of you who can spare 3 full minutes of your Friday afternoon to watch this hatchback be claimed by the proud and ingenious mole men who dwell just beneath out feet, we fully recommend watching the entire thing, for the sake of context and narrative. If you're busy folk like us, though, feel free to skip to about 1:30 to see the real fun begin as the hole widens and a full-sized automobile does it's best impression of a Hot Wheels car being flushed down the toilet by a toddler. Bye bye, car!


Question

Chinese village suffers over 20 sinkholes in five months

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Residents in the village of Lianyuan in southern China's Hunan Province have been treading rather gingerly these last few months.

Over 20 sinkholes have opened up in the ground since last September.

The cave-ins, which range in size, have seen houses collapse and rivers run dry. And there is never any warning as to where and when the sinkhole occur.

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Sinkhole swallows car in Albuquerque, New Mexico, second such incident in a year

Southbound Prince St. SE blocked at Grape Ave. SE


A driver in the early-morning hours had an unexpected detour when they drove into a sinkhole in the South Valley.

This is the second such incident in the area this year.

The driver wasn't injured, but crews had to tow the car out of the hole that took up the entire southbound lane of Prince Street SE at Grape Avenue SE.

Expect traffic delays in the area until crews can assess the situation.

It's unclear how much of the line will have to be replaced.

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Update: Second sinkhole opens on same street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, forcing almost 30 homes to evacuate

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© Brian Johnson
A second sinkhole has opened along North 4th Street in Harrisburg, leading to possible evacuations for some residents.

City officials said the second hole opened about 11 p.m. Monday night, resulting in the loss of water, gas and sewer service to the neighborhood.

"Due to the prolonged loss of these utilities, the city's Department of Public Works is recommending the immediate evacuation of affected residents at addresses 2102 to 2163 N.4th Street," a city news release states.

Twenty-nine homes are affected. The evacuation is not an order, just a recommendation by the city.

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Trash truck gets stuck in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania sinkhole

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© Matthew Kemeny/The Patriot-NewsA Harrisburg trash truck get stuck in a sinkhole in uptown this morning.
Harrisburg -- North Fourth Street is closed between Woodbine and Maclay streets in uptown after a sinkhole opened up this morning, catching the back wheels of a city trash truck.

Officials shut off water to that section of the street as they prepared to tow the truck from the gaping hole around 11 a.m.

Officials did not have an idea when the road will reopen.

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Giant sinkhole opens up at busy Shanxi intersection

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© China Daily
The sinkhole strikes again! While not as epic as the gaping Xi'an collapse in May, a road in Shanxi has imploded, damaging gas and infrastructure in the area. No one was hurt, and the only significant harm was caused to underground pipes. Shanxi should be glad not to have the bus-eating holes of Nanjing or pedestrian-assassins of Xi'an.

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Sinkhole swallows bus in Oceanside, California

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© fox5sandiego.com
A city bus was stranded after getting stuck in a sinkhole in Oceanside Wednesday morning.

North County Transit District spokeswoman Deborah Castillo said one of their buses was stuck at Los Arbolitos Boulevard and El Camino Real around 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The driver, who was the only person on the bus at the time of the incident, was uninjured.

An Oceanside Water Department dispatcher said the sinkhole was caused by a water main break.

Around 400 residents were without water as crews worked. Water was expected to be turned back by 10 p.m. Wednesday, water officials said.

Traffic was being diverted away from those streets.


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Two enormous sinkholes swallow roads in Bay Area, California

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© CBS

A storm caused a 20-foot sinkhole to form along Mountain View Drive in Lafayette on December 2, 2012.
Two giant sinkholes formed in separate Bay Area communities during the heavy rain from a powerful storm that passed through the Bay Area over the weekend.

In one instance, a giant sinkhole swallowed two lanes of a street in a residential neighborhood in Lafayette Sunday.

High water levels and a clogged storm drain in Lafayette Creek destroyed a portion of Mountain View Drive Sunday, creating a sinkhole where the road once was, Lafayette City Manager Steven Falk said.

Comment: Here's a video of the other sinkhole in Santa Cruz (more of a landslide really):




Hourglass

1,200-foot sinkhole opens up in Ohio; "I've never seen anything like this... very unusual situation, says Ohio Dept. of Transportation official




Times-Reporter
, Nov 28, 2012:
A section of land the length of four football fields collapsed Wednesday afternoon leaving a gaping hole [...]

The collapse left about 70 to 80 feet of a 4-inch natural gas line exposed, and hanging [...]

[...] an Ohio Department of Natural Resources geologist was at the scene to assist in determining the cause of the collapse.

sinkhole
© WOIOSink hole at SR 516 in Dover

Comment: Update - video footage of the enormous sinkhole in Ohio: