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Florida riddled with sinkholes: Multiple sinkholes open in Hernando County

Tony Holt
Hernando Today
Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:01 UTC
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In the Trillium community of Brooksville, at least 15 sinkholes sliced up several front and back yards.
Brooksville - Chris Cook heard the suction from inside his house Sunday night.

It was dark, windy and raining. He saw the water stretching beyond the edge of the retention pond behind a row of homes along Nodding Shade Drive. It was inching toward the pole to his bird house, which is about 20 paces from his back porch.

Cook shined his flashlight to the left. He was joined outside by his next-door neighbor, who was hearing the same sounds.

He saw the whirlpool. He knew the depression underneath the flowing water was a fresh sinkhole.

In 24 hours, he saw 14 more open up in his neighborhood - some of them deeper than 20 feet.
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House

Another massive sinkhole swallows yet another Florida home

Andrew Mach
MSNBC.com
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:25 UTC

A home in Hudson, Fla., along Florida's west coast, was ripped apart Wednesday after a massive sinkhole opened beneath it.

No one was inside the house, belonging to 79-year-old Susan Minutillo, when it quietly crumbled to the ground, neighbors said.

"You just look over there and the whole back end of the house just flipped right down into the hole," neighbor Mike Richards told First Coast News in Jacksonville, Fla.

Ironically, Minutillo was having her home evaluated for the risk of sinkholes when the ground opened up. As crews were surveying her property, she stepped out to run an errand, and by the time she got home, about half of her house was already in the ground, according to Pasco County Fire Rescue crews.

A back bedroom, bathroom and sunroom were swallowed by the natural disaster, exposing the remaining parts of the house.

Comment: Florida Sinkhole Swallows Car, Endangers Condominium

Massive Florida Sinkhole Expanding

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Umbrella

Duluth in State of Emergency after Torrential Rains Sweep City, North Shore


Pioneer Press
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/The Duluth News-Tribune/Bob KingA car fell into a huge sinkhole in Duluth, Minn. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Major flooding struck in and around Duluth on Wednesday after up to 10 inches of rain fell overnight across northeastern Minnesota, leaving neighborhoods isolated, zoo animals drowned and state parks closed.

Steady, torrential rain kept up into Wednesday morning, June 20, closing Interstate 35 and a tunnel into downtown Duluth. Police said sinkholes and washouts made travel dangerous.

Residents of the far west Duluth neighborhood of Fond du Lac, near the rising St. Louis River, were asked to leave their homes. Seventy people arrived at shelters opened by the Red Cross, officials said.

State emergency management officials set up an operations center in response to the flooding across Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, including the Duluth area.

Gov. Mark Dayton declared a state of emergency and directed the Minnesota National Guard to help the region cope with the disaster.

Dayton planned to travel to Duluth on Thursday morning.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries, though an 8-year-old boy was swept about six blocks through a culvert near Duluth. The boy suffered scrapes and bruises but was fine, St. Louis County Undersheriff Dave Phillips said, calling it a "miracle out of this whole disaster."

Minnesota Department of Public Safety officials cited Duluth police reports that half of the Fond du Lac neighborhood was under evacuation and the town of Thomson was partially evacuated.
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Duluth Roads Collapse, Sinkholes Swallow Cars

Alan Hoglund
WDIO Eyewitness News
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:05 UTC

Minnesota, US - The damage is breathtaking. "The roads are just a disaster around here," Greg Vogt, with Expert Tire in Duluth said.

In and around Duluth, roads collapsed and sinkholes swallowed cars. On East Skyline Drive a car sits 10 feet below the surface of the road, in a massive sinkhole.

Deep water left some vehicles totaled, like a Volvo behind Expert Tire, and a Chevy Tahoe near the interstate.

"Water was all the way up to the retaining wall," Matt Kebhart said, talking about a three-foot wall in front of the interstate.

Kebhart works at an auto body shop on London Road. Behind it, a dumpster sat in a deep pool of standing water. "That dumpster, I don't even know where it came from," he said.
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House

Sinkhole Swallows Another Florida Home

Mary Kenney
Tampa Bay Times
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 02:59 UTC
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© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay TimesA sinkhole swallows the back half of Susan Minutillo’s home
Florida, US - Susan Minutillo, 79, climbed out of her dark gray Mercury and saw the emergency trucks outside her house in Beacon Woods East. She'd left about half an hour before to run an errand for a friend, leaving a crew to do a survey of her home, checking for sinkholes. The survey was routine. Just like her day was supposed to be.

"I never thought this would happen to me," she said Wednesday afternoon, sitting at the kitchen table in her neighbor's home, voice thick with unshed tears. "I don't know where I'll go now."

At about 3 p.m., a sinkhole under the back half of her home began to collapse. Forty-five minutes later, half the house was gone, and county officials plastered a dark orange sign with black block letters spelling "condemned" on the garage door.

Emergency vehicles from the Sheriff's Office, Pasco County Ground Inspections, the Fire Department and others circled the property, surrounding the house with yellow tape and shutting off the electricity and water still pumping into the broken home.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rains Cause Major Flooding, Sinkholes in Eastern Minnesota


CBS Minnesota
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:56 UTC
Duluth Mayor Don Ness says he plans to declare a state of emergency because of serious flooding in his northeastern Minnesota city.


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    Sinkhole swallows minibus in South China


    People's Daily Online
    Fri, 08 Jun 2012 04:59 UTC
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    © CFP/Dong Hua
    A sinkhole engulfed a minibus Thursday morning in Guilin, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, injuring the vehicle's driver. The incident was a geological disaster that happened around 4 a.m. on Fuxing Road in the city's Qixing district. It left a big hole which is 4 meters long, 2.5 meters wide and 2 meters deep. The driver, the only person in the minibus, was being treated in hospital.
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    © CFP/Dong Hua

    Comment: Interesting that the Chinese recognise this phenomenon to be geological in nature, as opposed to Western media, which largely portrays it as man-made.

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    Anoka County, Minneapolis sinkhole is growing


    Fox News
    Wed, 30 May 2012 14:40 UTC

    • A homeowner living near a massive sinkhole that closed an Anoka County road says the huge hole is getting even bigger.

    The hole appeared on Saturday morning, taking out 15 feet of Kettle River Boulevard and 165th Avenue in Columbus, Minn. -- but it's still growing around the edges.

    The roadway has been blocked to traffic, and the Anoka County engineer says crews will be out on Thursday morning to begin repairs.

    Officials say heavy rains and an aging infrastructure caused the pipe beneath the road to give out.

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    Bizarro Earth

    Massive Sinkhole Forms Near Central City, Colorado


    CBS4
    Sat, 26 May 2012 17:20 UTC
    Sinkhole
    © CBSThe sinkhole near Central City.
    Central City, Colorado - A massive crater alongside the road in between the cities of Black Hawk and Central City has traffic moving along a bit slower than usual after crews had to close a lane.

    The sinkhole happened at the end of Gregory Street just east of Central City. The asphalt on the side of the road gave way to a small cavern early Saturday morning. By midday the cavern had turned into a crater.

    Officials said an old mine shaft caved in. There's some speculation that recent, heavy rains and heavy Memorial Day weekend traffic may have been a contributing factor.

    The shaft is about 30 feet wide by 50 feet deep. Crews will fill it in with large rocks and then add filler to the rock for stabilization.

    Experts say such collapses aren't uncommon in Gilpin County.
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    Attention

    Huge sinkhole opens in Montreal after student protest


    CBC.com
    Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00 UTC
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    © Via @DemetriPro, TwitterPothole on Sherbrooke Street, Montreal
    A four-metre square sinkhole opened up in a major downtown Montreal street just hours after a massive student protest had marched over it.

    The protest, which attracted tens of thousands of people, had already passed and gone down another street when the four-metre-deep sinkhole opened up late Tuesday afternoon.

    Denis Roy, an operations chief with the Montreal fire department, said there were no injuries to any passersby.

    Public works officials are attempting to determine the cause of the collapse.

    The sinkhole is located not far from McGill University on Sherbrooke Street, one of Montreal's key east-west arteries.

    The collapse, which happened around rush hour, added to the headaches of drivers already dealing with detours because of the huge student protest over tuition fee hikes and a special law to limit demonstrations.

    Source: The Canadian Press
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