Sinkholes
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Bizarro Earth

US: Girl Dies, Father Hurt in Utah Road Collapse Crash


Huffington Post
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:10 UTC
Utah Sinkhole_1
© Rex OlsenThis is a picture of the car that landed in the sinkhole.
Tabiona - A teenage girl is dead and two people injured after a road collapsed, leaving a 40-foot wide gap in an eastern Utah highway.

The Utah Highway Patrol says heavy rainfall opened the hole more than 30 feet deep along State Highway 35 late Wednesday. It happened near Tabiona, a town about 80 miles east of Salt Lake City.

The highway patrol says 15-year-old Justine Barneck died after the SUV she was riding in crashed as it approached the hole a few minutes after the collapse. Her father, 59-year-old Michael Barneck, was injured in the accident.

Utah Sinkhole_2
© Kevin Ashbv / Vernal ExpressA home sits on the other side of a large sinkhole that was created from a heavy rainstorm washing out a culvert under state Road 35 in Tabiona Wednesday night.
The driver of a second car that plunged into the gap, 37-year-old Heidi Paulson, also was hurt.

The road remained closed Thursday. An investigation is under way.
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Florida, US: Tarpon Springs homeowners wonder if homes will be swallowed by sinkhole

Don Germaise
abc Action News
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:16 UTC
An engineering report on potential sinkhole activity in a Tarpon Springs neighborhood has homeowners wondering if their homes are going to be swallowed by the earth.

The Geotechnical Engineering Services Report commissioned by the city, following a sinkhole June 16, found "the subsurface soils ... are indicative of potential sinkhole activity." It means a city park and several surrounding homes are sitting atop ground that has voids in the subsurface that could collapse into a sinkhole.

"I've basically been living in fear," said Henry Collins who lives across the street from the park tested by the engineers. The engineers were called in after the earth collapsed beneath the home next door to Collins' house.

"Every night I can't sleep," said Collins. "Every noise, I get up and check because I don't know what it might be... It could be my house falling into the ground."

The city is expected to repair the subsurface of the park by pumping grout below the surface to fill the voids. However, homeowners are on their own. Collins says he cannot afford to hire a company to check the property beneath his home. "I'm just taking it one day at a time and hope for the best," said Collins.
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US: Lenoir, North Carolina sinkhole evidence of a possible wider problem

Steve Ohnesorge
WBTV
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:15 UTC
Image
© WBTV
Lenoir, North Carolina - A small sinkhole in Lenoir was much bigger than officials thought.

When work crews began digging on Monday they found that hole that was just a foot wide at the surface of the pavement, was more than twelve feet wide under the pavement.

"The pavement was holding itself up," said Streets maintenance Supervisor Estel Osborne. Pennton Avenue was closed last week as a precaution when the problem was discovered and Osborne said it was lucky they did keep cars off of the spot. "There was nothing under the asphalt."

Crews on Monday cut out a forty foot section of the road to get to the drainage problem that caused the sinkhole in the first place.

"There's an old pipe in there and the bottom of the pipe just rusted out." The pipe carries water from an old creek under the roads and buildings in the area.

Comment: Oh this goes WAY beyond the city's drainage system rusting out! Think on a global scale...

Australia: Enormous sinkhole swallows south-east Queensland Rainbow beach

A collection of sinkhole images from around the world

Huge sinkhole appears in Germany! Usedom Island has a Grand Canyon now

Update: Tropical storm leaves more than 115 dead and a huge sinkhole in Central America

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US: Massive sinkhole opens up in Daisetta, Texas


Reuters
Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:58 UTC

Comment: The above is one we missed from 2008, but this report came in today, 12 July 2011:

US: Lenoir, North Carolina sinkhole evidence of a possible wider problem

These reports are from just the past month:

South Carolina, US: Sinkhole Closes Stephens County Boat Ramp

U.S.: Fairfield Township deals with sinkhole

Enormous sinkhole swallows south-east Queensland Rainbow beach

Canada: Downpour Leaves 18-metre Sinkhole in Ontario Highway

Australia: Sinkhole swallows south-east Queensland beach

North Dakota, US: Sinkhole closes Fargo overpass

US: 45' deep sinkhole appears in Pittsburgh parking lot

Big Apple, Cracked! New York, US: Midtown sinkhole stops rush hour traffic, baffles investigators

A collection of sinkhole images from around the world

The planet is literally opening up!

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Arrow Up

US: Florida Has Highest Occurrence of Sinkholes

Monique Valdes
Seminole Chronicle
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© ABCActionNewsA 20-foot-wide Florida sinkhole swallowed a car and is still growing.
The weather, beaches and low cost of living make Florida one of the most ideal states for people to reside in.

But there's one unfortunate occurrence that happens here that many Floridians may not know much about: sinkholes.

Florida has the highest occurrence of sinkholes in the country according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Sinkholes occur when water moves through the layer of limestone, which is just below the land surface. As water moves through small holes in the limestone, the holes enlarge and the rock eventually dissolves.

The result? A collapse of ground sediments that become too heavy after lots of rain. The depression or hole that occurs is therefore coined a "sinkhole." In extreme cases, a sinkhole can grow 40 to 60 feet deep and wide in a matter of hours, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's website.

Oviedo resident Tracy Squadrito learned all about sinkholes when the bottom of her kitchen sink fell through from outside water damage.
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South Carolina, US: Sinkhole Closes Stephens County Boat Ramp

Charlie Bauder
Anderson Independent Mail
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:02 UTC
There is no timeline yet to re-open a Stephens County boat ramp on Lake Hartwell.

The gate to the boat ramp just off of U.S. 123 at the South Carolina state line is locked and the sign posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers states that the area is closed due to a sinkhole.

The Corps of Engineers Hartwell Project operations manager Kenneth Bedenbaugh said that the Corps discovered the sinkhole at the start of the Fourth of July weekend.

"Late Friday evening, July 1, we discovered a sinkhole that had developed on an access road leading into the recreation area, which created a public safety hazard for anybody to be driving on that road," said Bedenbaugh. "Due to that, we immediately closed the park and it remained closed throughout the weekend."

According to Bedenbaugh, the area will remain closed until repairs take place.
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Bizarro Earth

U.S.: Fairfield Township deals with sinkhole


WCPO
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:09 UTC
Image
© Scripps Media, Inc.
Fairfield, Ohio - Butler County Road Engineers are trying to deal with a sinkhole that has formed at the intersection of Hamilton-Mason Road and Morris Road in Fairfield Township.

They say a water main break has caused the sinkhole sometime early Saturday. They've placed road closure signs and barricades at the intersection to turn motorists away. Engineers say the intersection will be closed until repairs are made sometime in the next week.

The fire department says the sinkhole has taken a fire hydrant out of service and the hole will have an impact on safety services and convenience to residents in the area.

It's recommended that if you drive through the area that you seek an alternate route.
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Bizarro Earth

US: St. Clair Crack Remains a Mystery

Dave Summers
WKYC-TV
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:32 UTC
Crack
© WKYC-TV
Cleveland -- It's about 2 inches wide and just as deep, stretching from Ontario to East Sixth Street and running the length of the new Medical Mart construction.

Fear of the unknown may run much deeper.

The point man for Medical Mart construction, Jeff Appelbaum, says he can't say yet what the cause of the crack is or what the contributing factors are.

Appelbaum isn't passing on or shouldering the blame, but the construction team is investigating the cause.

Appelbaum says the excavation is supported by a massive dirt mound and earth anchors on the north side of St. Clair Avenue.

Still, the street split this seam.
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Binoculars

Australia: Enormous sinkhole swallows south-east Queensland Rainbow beach

Georgia Waters
Sydney Morning Herald
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:54 UTC
Image

A sinkhole up to 100m long and 50m deep has opened up on a south-east Queensland beach.

The hole appeared at Inskip Point, Rainbow Beach, on Saturday night and continued to grow yesterday. It is estimated to be up to 50m deep.

Hervey Bay man Ron Morgan told the Fraser Coast Chronicle he could only watch in shock as a small hole turned into a gaping chasm 30 metres wide and kept on growing.
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Bizarro Earth

Canada: Downpour Leaves 18-metre Sinkhole in Ontario Highway

Zev Singer
The Ottawa Citizen
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:07 UTC
Sinkhole_1
© Mike Carroccetto / The Ottawa CitizenThis sinkhole is located on Hwy. 148 between Luskville and Quyon near Ch. Parker. A detour is in place.
A section of Highway 148 near Luskville, Ontario, is now a canyon 18 metres deep, a victim of Friday's heavy rains.

Remarkably, the family living next to the giant gap owns a construction company with expertise in exactly the type of work that will be needed to fix the road.

Not only does James Nugent, of R.H. Nugent Construction, have 35 years of experience in the field, he has the heavy machinery parked only a few hundred meters from the caved-in road.

"We were called in right off the bat," he said. "There's nothing signed, but we probably will be proceeding with the work under an emergency situation. They want a company that can start right away."

Nugent said the large pipe that ran under that stretch of the highway seems to have been blocked at the intake. The torrents of water late last week stressed the situation causing the pipe to buckle and the ground above the pipe became waterlogged and gave way.
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