Major Sinkholes: February – March 2013

Updated on March 4

(March 4) A sinkhole more than 10m wide has opened up near Gayndah in Queensland, Australia. Gayndah recorded more than 105mm of rainfall on the weekend, and the soaked ground just could not take any more. (Source)

(March 1) Beijing, China

(March 1) Shandong, China

(March 1) A Florida man who was in his bedroom late Thursday night is presumed dead, swallowed by a sinkhole that opened beneath his Tampa-area home. The man, identified as Jeff Bush, 36, was in his bedroom when the sinkhole opened up. Bush screamed for help, but by the time his relatives could come to his aid, he had fallen through the abyss. The death is believed to be the first attributed to a sinkhole in Hillsborough County. Nearby homes have been evacuated as a precaution. (Source) The sinkhole is described as a chasm and the earth below the house is said to be a “very large, very fluid mass.” (Source)

(Feb 28) People stand next to a 24.9 metre (82 feet) diametre pit at a village in Guangyuan, Sichuan province in China. According to local media the pit formed on a karst landform last year after the ground surface kept sinking for six days in September. The investigators said the pit may face further sinking after rains due to its geological conditions. (Source)

Frozen rice fields in Sichuan province in China were swallowed up by a massive sinkhole, with farmland collapsing into a pit ten metres across in the province’s Weiyuan county. The cave-in occurred around 7pm on February 5, with an explosive sound heard by villagers 100 metres away, which some compared to the sound of firecrackers. No one was reported to have been killed or injured, but villagers will have to deal with the gaping holes in the middle of their land, while authorities monitor the area for further geologic instability. (Source)

(Feb 28) A growing sinkhole in one Chester County neighborhood in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania, has a resident worried for his family’s safety. It’s 20 feet deep and about 10 feet wide. And the homeowner says it’s not his responsibility to fix. (Source)

(Feb 28) Crews are out repairing a 30-foot sinkhole and cleaning up debris caused by a major water main break in San Francisco. On Wednesday morning a massive rush of water and mud damaged a dozen vehicles and almost two dozen homes in the West Portal neighborhood. Two of those homes are yellow-tagged, meaning access is restricted until their foundations can be repaired. (Source)

(Feb 28) The City of Oxford in Alabama will pay more than $3 million to fix a sinkhole near a shopping center. The sinkhole formed in January just off I-20 at the Oxford Commons retail development, several hundred feet from a Publix supermarket that held its grand opening today. (Source)

(Feb 27) A 15 foot wide sinkhole opened up in the city of Altoona in Blair County, Pennsylvania, when a sewer manhole collapse around the old brick lines. (Source)

(Feb 26) Crews in the Point Loma area in San Diego were working Monday to fill a giant sinkhole 20 feet in diameter and restore water service to residents left without it after a metal water pipe ruptured under Nimitz Boulevard. (Source)

(Feb 26) The Assumption Parish sinkhole is a lot like a living, breathing thing. More than 200 days after it mysteriously started swallowing up the swamp, hundreds of residents are still under a mandatory evacuation order. (Source) More land has fallen into the massive sinkhole plaguing south Louisiana. Officials report about 5,000 square feet fell in on the southwest side of the sinkhole this week. (Source)

(Feb 23) Water main break and sinkhole continue to cause problems for merchants and residents in Alpine in San Diego County, California, where a boil water order remains in effect to protect public health. (Source)

(Feb 21) A large sinkhole that opened up A 10-foot wide, 6-foot long sinkhole opened up in the right lane on the southbound side on the Garden State Parkway’s Driscoll Bridge in New Jersey. Two lanes were blocked for much of the day as crews worked to fill the hole and determine the cause. (Source)

(Feb 21) Shandong, China

(Feb 20) A heart shaped sink hole developed in the parking lot of the McDonald’s in Pomeroy, Ohio. (Source)

(Feb 20) The collapsed of a portion of U.S. 89 south of Page on Wednesday has forced the indefinite closure of the highway going both directions. U.S. 89 is the main road connecting Page to Flagstaff and the Valley. More than 120 feet of the highway has sunk nearly 4 feet just south of Page in the Navajo Nation. The collapse is possibly from a geological condition, however, it is too early to determine the exact cause. At least two collisions were reported as a result of the sink hole. (Source)

(Feb 19) Authorities fear a “sinkhole” in flood-ravaged Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, could swallow as many as 10 businesses along the river, after already claiming one shop. The latest deluge in the town opened up a 20-metre “sinkhole” on the banks of the Burnett River, swallowing part of the Midtown Marina in the central Queensland city on Tuesday morning. (Source)

(Feb 15) The Unicoi County school board in Tennessee voted unanimously to permanently close Love Chapel Elementary School in Erwin after receiving an engineering report on a sinkhole next to the playground. (Source)

(Feb 15) This week’s torrential rain led to several sinkholes in in Albany, Georgia. Two massive sinkholes opened up at the Legacy Park, which is a part of Sherwood Baptist Church. These two join two other sinkholes that have opened up in Dougherty and Worth Counties in the past couple of weeks. So what’s going on here? (Source)

(Feb 13) Two days ago, the Dominican Republic’s ground continued to swallow a house on Font Bernard Street in the middle class Santo Domingo neighborhood of Los Prados, where a car fell into the hole last Friday, 8 February. Local residents and traders are worried this sinkhole will continue to expand. (Source)

(Feb 13) A sink hole along Walnut Street in Boiling Spring’s measures 16 feet long and 10 feet deep. Additional damage was reported to the Boiling Springs house at 201 Walnut St., that had been temporarily condemned. (Source)

(Feb 13) A second sinkhole gaped open about 25 feet south of the first one in Enid, Oklahoma. Each of the sinkholes is large enough to swallow an adult. (Source)

(Feb 12) Madison County workers repaired damage to the intersection of Sixth Street and Stone Street in Triana, Alabama. Heavy rains from weekend storms washed out the road and created a sinkhole at the intersection. While most of the pavement remained, there was nothing beneath the asphalt and officials were concerned the road would collapse. (Source)

(Feb 9) Beijing, China

(Feb 7) According to a professional geologist, the sinkhole underneath the condemned buildings on Warren Street in Live Oak, Florida, is very deep and very broad. (Source) The entire downtown is threatened by the massive sinkhole. The area, which is just north of the Suwannee County Courthouse, has visible stress lines reaching into the courthouse parking area where the old public library was formerly located. (Source)

(Feb 7) A sinkhole opened up and caused the partial collapse of a building in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The building was vacant and no one was injured.(Source)

(Feb 5) Hunan, China

(Feb 1) Dozens of sinkholes have opened up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital city, including one locals cheekily dubbed ‘Super Sinkhole Walter’ but the bankrupt city can’t fix the 41 sinkholes plaguing its streets. (Source)

(Feb 1) The Alabama Department of Transportation is seeking a permanent solution for a section of Highway 21 South that has repeatedly shifted due to sinkhole activity. After resurfacing the area at least three times to no avail in the last year, engineers are looking for a long-term answer. (Source)