Sinkholes
S


Bizarro Earth

Sinkhole swallows two cars in parking lot near Montreal airport

Two cars fell into a sinkhole that opened up Friday in a parking lot near Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The cars didn't completely disappear - the nose of one of the cars slipped into the hole while the side of the other car was partially submerged.

A spokesman for Montreal's airport authority says the hole is just under a metre deep and covers an area of about five metres long and three metres wide.
Image
© Graham Hughes / The Canadian PressA man looks inside a sinkhole that opened up at a parking lot at Montreal Airport on Friday, March 29, 2013, after two partially-submerged cars were pulled from the hole.

Bizarro Earth

Shocking video captures moment man is swallowed by 52-foot deep sinkhole in China


Take a look at this incredible video coming out of China - where a massive sinkhole swallowed a 25-year-old man in seconds.

The video, which was captured by 2 closed-circuit TV cameras, shows the man identified as Yang Jiabin walking in Shenzhen near a construction site when suddenly a 26-foot wide, 52 foot deep sinkhole suddenly opens up and swallows him alive.

Despite a quick response from rescue workers, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shocking incident caused officials to evacuate nearby residents.

Bizarro Earth

Officials investigate cause behind massive earth-split in Brazil

sink hole
© Unknown
The cause of massive land collapse in Brazil is being investigated. The prosecutor Douglas Roberto Ribeiro de Magalhaes Chegury is investigating the cause of environmental disasters in the cities of Santo Domingo and Campos Belos, Goias in the Northeast. Since yesterday (14/3), surveys are being carried out by the technical-skills expert prosecutors in places, where geological disasters, were generated by the collapse of land. This information will educate the public civil inquiries, which will proceed through the Prosecutor's Office and Justice of São Domingos Campos Belos to liability for damages. According to Chegury, in early February, shortly after becoming aware of the environmental disaster in the Serra Geral, which divides the states of Goiás, Tocantins and Bahia; the civil investigation was initiated due to public outcry.

The prosecutor has even visited the disaster site, and collected samples of water and land that could be contaminated with chemicals and pesticides. With the collapse, the flood of mud, stones and earth opened up a crater approximately 7 km, running almost 200 meters to the east of the Mosquito River, a major Northeastern Goiás and Tocantins Southeast. The prosecutor also informed the public that another investigation was initiated in Santo Domingo for determining liability for any environmental damage over the Serra Geral, similar to what happened in Upper Landing. On site, there was a landslide that hit the east of the São Vicente, which passes Terra Ronca State Park; the most extensive areas of environmental preservation of Goiás, with approximately 60 000 hectares, endangering fish species endangering the Sao Vicente cave complex.

Bizarro Earth

Sinkhole at house greets family moving to Tombstone, Arizona

Members of a family moving to Tombstone said they aren't concerned by a new sinkhole in the backyard of a home. They're purchasing the home in the historic mining community. A tow truck's winch was used to extract the family's truck from the sinkhole after its left front tire sank when the ground collapsed Friday evening.
Image
According to the Sierra Vista Herald, Michael and Mary Berrryman and their son Mikey all said they find the sinkhole an interesting part of Tombstone's history. There's a network of underground mine tunnels underneath Tombstone, and town archivist Nancy Sosa said three mines connect near the new sinkhole. Fire Chief Jeff Fought said the house appears to be structurally sound.

Bizarro Earth

New Florida sinkhole in same Florida town - 3rd sinkhole in Florida in a month

A new sinkhole opened up in Seffner, Fla., the same town where a sinkhole swallowed a man. This is at least the third sinkhole in the Florida town in a month

Authorities say a sinkhole has opened between two homes in Seffner and the houses have been evacuated as a precaution.

Image
© ABC Action News-WFTS TV/APThis video image shows an aerial photo of a sinkhole earlier this month in Seffner, Fla., that opened up underneath a bedroom and swallowed Jeffrey Bush. Florida is one of only two states where insurers of residences have to cover damage related to earth movement.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said the hole was estimated at 8 feet across and 10 feet deep. It opened about 7 p.m. Saturday. Seffner was also the site of a massive sinkhole that swallowed a man in his bedroom, killing him about a month ago.

Bizarro Earth

Not in MSM: Toxic Bayou Corne sinkhole in Louisiana slowly swallowing up state

Last summer, a rural area of southeastern Louisiana known as Assumption Parish was changed forever following the unexpected formation of a giant sinkhole that suddenly appeared one day out of nowhere. This mysterious sinkhole, which was later dubbed the "Great Louisiana Sinkhole," has been gradually gaining in size now for about seven months, and it appears to be picking up speed, having reportedly swallowed up an entire acre of land in just one day, and three acres of land in under a week.

If this is the first time you are hearing about the Great Louisiana Sinkhole, you can thank the mainstream media for keeping the general public in the dark about its existence, and the very serious threat it poses not only to Louisianans but to all of humanity. An apparent product of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010, this anomalous sinkhole appears to be connected to underground salt domes that are collapsing, releasing toxic gases, oil, and possibly other materials.

In this particular case, degradation of salt domes near Napoleonville in Assumption Parish appear to be responsible for triggering the formation of the Great Louisiana Sinkhole, which has gained considerable size since it first appeared last August. According to the latest estimates, which are constantly changing as the sinkhole expands, more than 12 acres have already been swallowed up, and 20 more are in the process of sinking, with no end in sight.

Bizarro Earth

Unexplained huge crack forming on the Navajo Nation

Is the next Grand canyon forming....
Huge Crack
© The Navajo Post
Luepp, Arizona - It's not something you see every day on the Navajo Nation, but a crack in the earth has been forming for a long time now and no one seems to have a clear answer. It just sits east of Flagstaff on Luepp Rd and about one mile west of Leupp gas station.

It's gotten so big that they had to fenced it in.

Bizarro Earth

Sinkhole swallows Newcastle, California pond overnight

Overnight, a sinkhole swallowed a pond on Mark Korb's property in Newcastle, Calif. When he went to bed Saturday night, the pond was there. On Sunday, March 17 it was gone. How does that happen? While northern California is nowhere near as prone to sinkholes as Florida (see USGS sinkhole map), one clue might be the fact that the pond was man-made. While sinkholes don't need a human trigger; changes in drainage due to construction or agricultural irrigation have been known to activate mass outbreaks of sinkholes in Florida, and other parts of the country.


As The Christian Science Monitor reported earlier this month after a Florida man was swallowed in his bed by a sinkhole, "Drought followed by heavy rains can also instigate sinkholes as heavy, water-logged earth presses down on limestone caves suddenly devoid of buoyant water. The two previous deaths attributed to sinkholes both involved professional well drillers whose activities cracked the top of limestone caverns, causing collapse. Humans can [destabilize karst landscapes] by drawing down water tables or irrigate too much, increasing the weight of the mass of materials that sits on top of the void," says Jonathan Martin, a geologist at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. "Humans can modify the environment" enough to cause sinkholes.


Comment: Or, these more and more frequently sighted sinkholes could be caused by something more sinister than being man-made or 'agricultural irrigation'. See Sinkholes - A Sign of the Times? and do a cursory search here on SOTT for more recently discovered 'sinkholes'.


Attention

California couple wakes to find sinkhole in yard

Image
© Michael "Domi" Domalaog/KCRA"This looks like the moon," said Korb, pointing at a sinkhole that caused a pond to drain onto his property
Sinkhole caused pond to drain onto couple's property

When Mark Korb woke up Sunday morning, he noticed the man-made pond on his property didn't look the way it did when he went to bed.

"This looks like the moon," said Korb, pointing at a sinkhole that caused a pond to drain onto his property.

A few years ago, Korb drained the pond with a pump, he said. The project took him seven days to complete.

The sinkhole emptied the pond much faster: "I would guess probably four to five hours for this whole area to drain," Korb said.

Arrow Down

Sinkhole opens up on Lincoln Street in Bangor, Maine

Image
© Alex Barber | BDN
A sinkhole big enough to swallow a Volkswagen opened up on Lincoln Street next to the Bangor Daily News parking lot on Sunday. The hole is about three feet deep and eight feet long. Orange cones had been placed around the hole to warn motorists. Bangor Public Works Foreman Matthew Oakes said he had not yet seen the sinkhole, but said it would likely be addressed first thing on Monday.
Image
© Brian Feulner | BDN