GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: More Sinkholes Keep Popping Up Across The United States - Massive Sinkhole Threatens South Side Homes In Chicago!

November 13, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A Chicago sinkhole has opened up on the city’s South Side, causing city officials to warn nearby residents that the sinkhole may be growing dangerously close to their homes. 

A Chicago sinkhole, measuring 20 by 80 feet, appears to have started when a pipe servicing the house with
a small leak in eroded over time and washed out the drain and support from under the road.

ABC News reported Monday that the sinkhole swallowed up part of the street at 124th Street and Wentworth, and that the hole was initially caused by an underground water main break that flushed out a pocket under the street and caused flooding in a handful of basements near the rupture.

Crews worked to repair the water break, and area residents were told they can once again use water, but were cautioned that it may be a few days until the repair crew can rule out any further danger and begin patching the street.

"Depending on what's underneath it, we're hoping by the end of the week we should have the street repaired," said Deputy Commissioner Bill Bresnahan of the Chicago Water Department on Monday. "We will have water on to these people before we leave here, hopefully by the end of the day."

A huge sinkhole opened up in a South Side neighborhood is still growing and
moving dangerously close to houses. 

Though water service was reported, crews are still working to judge the danger of the sinkholes, which currently stands at 20 feet by 80 feet.

Residents said that at the time of the break, water could be seen gushing from cracks in the street 20 to 30 feet in the air. Officials told those affected to boil water for use until the break was repaired.

No one was injured and no cars were damaged when the ground opened up in the street. The city's water department and People's Gas are working on repairs, which are expected to take at least a week. - The Examiner.

Living a nightmare in China's city of sinkholes

Via cnn.com, 25 July 2013 - Four months after he built a new, two-story brick house in his village in northern China's Shandong Province, Xiao Guoqiang was alarmed to find a huge crack on the living room wall.

Xiao Guoqiang, a 50-year-old farmer stands before his sunken village in Jining, Shandong Province on June 26, 2013. Underground mining in this region is devouring 20 million square meters of land a year.

Having seen homes in neighboring villages sink, Xiao realized his long-held fears were coming true.
"I knew the day was coming, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon," said Xiao, who has been forced to move from the land -- on which four generations of his family have lived -- as a consequence.

Xiao's hometown, Jining, is one of China's "coal cities," whose mineral wealth helps light up the night skies of the world's most energy-hungry country. The land here is honeycombed with coal mines, which can form massive sinkholes that leave thousands of homes uninhabitable every year.

Ten years ago, the area where Xiao lived was a vibrant farming community on the North China Plain. But sinkholes are devouring 20 million square meters (7.7 square miles) of land here a year, according to the Jining Land Resource Bureau, and have displaced an estimated 100,000 people, mostly farmers and their families, over the past decade.

By 2090, the bureau predicts one third of the city -- an area as large as Los Angeles -- will fall into the earth, and an estimated 5 million people will have been forced out of the region by the problem.

Those figures worry government-affiliated sinkhole researcher Gu Mei, who said tensions over migration may lead to social unrest.

"Schools in some districts are overwhelmed with migrant students, while in other districts, classrooms are half empty," she told CNN.

Sinkholes: Common, costly and sometimes deadly

In this low-lying area, most sinkholes quickly fill with water. "I am afraid the city is turning into the Venice of the East," former mayor Li Guangsheng told the Qilu Weekly, a local newspaper, earlier this year.

When coal was discovered in the region in the 1960s, it proved a boon for the local economy. State-run miner YanKaung Group Ltd. grew from a local coal company to a multination-listed energy giant, employing about one of every two workers in town.

Meng Lingjun, a coal company employee, remembers the city as an underdeveloped backwater thirty years ago.

"When I was young, the town did not have a single factory, shopping mall or train station," he said. "Now we are one of the most affluent regions in North China."

But that prosperity has come at a price. Each day, Meng passes hundreds of sinkholes on his way to work. Like many urban residents, he believes it is too late for the city to withdraw from the lucrative coal business.
"We are nothing without the coal company," he said. "All we can do is keep mining and fixing the sinkholes."
In recent years, local officials tried several creative solutions for the sinkhole crisis, transforming the gaping holes into water theme parks, fishing ponds and lakes. One has been turned into a wetland park, a major spot for bird watching in the northern part of the city; another is now a fish breeding pond powered by solar panels.

But more than 50% of the subsided land remains abandoned, often polluted and emitting a pungent aroma. "The fund from central government for fixing sinkholes can barely cover expenses," government official Han Xizhong told CNN.

While China's Mine Subsidence Compensation Act gives clear guidance for how much a coal company should pay displaced residents for damages, it fails to take into account the problems that follow, Han said.
"The sinkhole issue is more complicated than removing a village and refilling the sinkholes," said another local official, who asked his name not be used because of the sensitive nature of the issue. "Many deep sinkholes have been sinking for over 10 years. You don't know the right time to treat them. Also communities removed from the subsidence area still need government support after moving to a new place."

But government-affiliated researcher Gu Mei claims the government has done a poor job addressing the problem.

"Local government would not consider filling sinkholes," Gu said. "Think about it. If you can easily turn a flooded subsidence into a water theme park, would you take pains to reclaim the land?"

Some farmers have attempted to fill the holes themselves -- only to find the cost is too high.

It costs at least US$15 per square meter to drain a hole and put in new soil. But according to Xiao Guoqiang, villagers only get compensated to the tune of US$5 per square meter from the coal company.

The Yankuang Group declined CNN requests for comment, citing the sensitivity of mining-induced farmland losses and migration issues.

For Xiao, the move to his new home has hit the family's dinner table as they can no longer raise their own pigs or grow their own vegetables.

"The pork price is rising and we cannot afford it. Having fresh vegetables and meat had never been a problem before because we grew and bred what we wanted to eat," Xiao said.
Another villager points out the lack of jobs in the new location.

"Our new home is 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) from the nearest town. It is hard for us find a decent job," said Kong Jian, who operates a street noodle stand.

"Young people flock to bigger cities, looking for factory jobs. Those who stayed are doing small businesses like operating noodle restaurants," Xiao said. "But for the next generation, nobody will know how to farm."
The 50-year old gets emotional when talking about his old village.

"As I get older, my nostalgic feeling for the old village grows stronger. I try not to think about it -- about the fact that it is a lake and the village only lives in my memory."

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: More Sinkholes Keep Popping Up Across America - Line Of Sinkholes In Florida County Could Be Sign Of More To Come!

June 14, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Homes in the sinkhole-plagued community of Seffner could be sitting on a fracture line linking them to about 20 other sinkholes, including the 20-foot-deep pit that opened under a home in February and killed Jeffrey Bush. 

And as Hillsborough County enters what one geologist labels "sinkhole weather," the potential for sinkholes to form will only increase. 

A sinkhole that killed a man in Seffner in March is one in a line of sinkholes in Hillsborough County.
© DIRK SHADD | Times

Since Bush's death brought national attention to sinkholes here, they seem to be sprouting all over Hillsborough, including several in the past week. 

"You'll get areas that just seem to get active," said Sandy Nettles, a private geologist in Palm Harbor. "It could be any number of things that actually stimulated it, but usually once they start rolling into an area, you get more action." 

In Plant City, Tom Manus was told to leave his home on North Country Hills Court after a sinkhole was discovered under his porch Saturday. 

On Sunday, a Bob Evans restaurant in Seffner was closed after employees found cracks on the ceiling, floor and walls. Geological tests are ongoing, but that type of damage is associated with sinkholes. 

Later that day, a Tampa family on Jean Street was asked to evacuate after a sinkhole developed in the front yard. The home is east of Hesperides Street and a half mile north of Hillsborough Avenue. 

On Wednesday, a 30-foot-deep possible sinkhole opened under 138th Avenue at Bruce B Downs Boulevard below a 2010 Nissan Versa. The car drove safely off the road, but its tires were damaged. 

Though sinkholes are as much a part of Florida as hurricanes and pythons, their frequency and media coverage in recent months have many wondering whether this string is unusual and where they're coming from. 

Experts say the recent bout of heavy rains, including from Tropical Storm Andrea, could lead to a summer of sinkholes. 

Susanna Martinez Tarokh, a spokeswoman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, said there were 150 confirmed sinkholes last year in Hernando County during and immediately after Tropical Storm Debby. 

"This is sinkhole weather," said Anthony Randazzo, a retired geology professor at the University of Florida and president of Geohazards Inc. "It's very much to be expected that there would be numerous sinkholes opening up following a tropical storm, especially after a period of drought. This type of weather pattern is very conducive to the triggering of sinkholes." 

Sinkhole formation starts with water. Rocks such as the limestone that dominates the area begin to dissolve when they're exposed to acidic water, such as rain. For eons, acidic water has flowed through the rocks in Florida, dissolving limestone and creating underground voids. When the ground above those voids collapses, a sinkhole is formed. 

All sorts of events can create similar collapses: low water levels, broken sewers and septic tanks, poorly compacted soil after construction, even buried trash and other debris. Many of these cases are not labeled sinkholes, but the effects are similar. 

Though it's hard to say, the sequence of occurrences in east Hillsborough could be linked to one fracture system, Nettles said. 

"We've mapped the sinkholes we work on in Seffner and plotted the locations of the two that opened up previously, and they're all on a straight line," said Nettles, who counts about 20 sinkholes on his map. "Sometimes, something in one of those fracture systems breaks lose, and it creates a whole series of movements." 

Fracture lines have high potential for sinkholes, Nettles said. Intersecting and parallel fracture lines are at an even higher risk. 

"When you get a system that moves, it moves until it starts to stabilize," Nettles said. "You probably had one collapse, and it just reverberates down the line and gets everything else loose." 

Randazzo and Clint Kromhout, a professional geologist with Florida Geological Survey, don't agree with the idea that a few collapsed sinkholes increase the likelihood of others along the same fracture. But areas sitting on a fracture in the limestone are more likely to be exposed to the groundwater that dissolves it, Randazzo said. 

"(A fracture line) can be a very common place where you would form a whole series of sinkholes," Randazzo said. "The fact that they would line up is particularly indicative of that kind of phenomena." 

There's no way to determine what an average number of sinkholes for the state or a particular region would look like, Kromhout said. Many go unreported or unnoticed. And while one region of the state might be more at risk than another based on geology and rainfall, it's nearly impossible to tell whether a series of occurrences is abnormal. 

"Every day in this state, there's likely a sinkhole that occurs that, A, no one sees or, B, no one thinks to say anything about," Kromhout said. - Tampa Bay Times.

SINKHOLES: MAY 2013

Updated on May 7

(May 7) University Parks Drive in Waco, Texas, will be shut down for a few days because of a sinkhole. (Source)

(May 6) A sinkhole has shut down an intersection in San Francisco’s Richmond District Monday evening. It is believed that the sinkhole was caused by an old 21-inch sewer line failure. (Source)

(May 6) Who could forget the pictures, a memorable part of the storm of 2013. A broken sewer line created a giant sinkhole in the street and swallowed three cars. Two-and-a-half weeks later, the hole is bigger than ever, the sewer smell worse than ever, and the residents are being told it will take at least a couple more weeks. (Source)

(May 6) As third sinkhole opens, Palmer Township resident asks “could we collapse into a hole?” Sinkholes are common in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, where underground water runs through soft limestone that’s prone to give way. But Palmer and Bethlehem township sinkholes are larger than most. Crews had to repair two sizable sinkholes on Northwood Avenue in April.  A 16-inch main at that site led to the formation of another hole a few feet away. On March 10, a sinkhole opened behind 1502 Second St. in Bethlehem Township. That sinkhole, which forced a family to leave its home, was blamed on an aging, leaky sewer main. A sinkhole formed in Allentown in late April. (Source)

(May 6) An 8 X 8 foot hole opened up in the Carrollwood area of Hillsborough County in North Tampa, Florida, after a homeowner backed into a fire hydrant. The northbound and eastbound lanes of the intersection are closed. (Source)

(May 6) The heavy rains caused a massive sinkhole to open up in a road in Cherokee County in Georgia. It happened on Glen Wilkie Trail in Ball Ground. (Source)

(May 5) A woman in Wagoner County, Oklahoma worries as a sink hole in her front yard is starting to swallow her driveway. Every time it rains this circle gets wider and the hole gets deeper. (Source)

(May 4) A large sinkhole that showed up last Saturday in a neighborhood on Grand Rapids’ northwest side in Michigan is being repaired. (Source)

(May 3) A section of Jack Bond Road near Brunswick Road in Memphis, Tennessee, was closed when a three-feet deep sinkhole opened up after hours of heavy rain. (Source)

(May 3) New sinkholes are found in Howell Twp in Michigan. The sinkholes from the surface appear to be only a few inches deep but the damage extends about 17 feet below the road surface. (Source)

(May 2) Crews are working to repair a sinkhole that formed in the middle of a Mishawaka road in South Bend, Indiana. The intersection was shut down yesterday afternoon after a Michiana woman nearly drove her car straight into the six-foot-wide hole. She narrowly avoided what would have been about a five-foot plunge. (Source)

(May 1) A large sinkhole opened up on Interstate 89 northbound in Bolton, Vermont. (Source)

(May 1) The massive hole ext to a Houston, Texas highway is now 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep, according to officials. (Source)

SINKHOLES: APRIL 2013 (updated)

Updated on April 29

(April 29) A hole in Henrico, Virginia, is growing and could soon swallow a woman’s home. The homeowner had to be rescued last Friday, when she fell into the gaping sinkhole head first. It has been nearly a week since Tammy Young was pulled from the sinkhole in her yard; crews worked for 30 minutes to retrieve her. Since that time, Young says she doesn’t feel any better about the problem. (Source)

(April 29) The wet weather is wreaking havoc across Cornelius, North Carolina. Crews are working to fix a sink hole caused by all of the rain. The ground gave way Sunday night when workers were trying to fix portions of Old Canal Street. (Source)

(April 29) Traffic may be backed up due to a sinkhole on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 81 at mile marker 197 in Rockbridge County in Virginia. (Source)

(April 29) A sinkhole appears to be growing in southwest Houston in Texas. It’s located in the parking lot of 1211 South Loop West Freeway near the entrance of SuitMart. As of Monday night, the sinkhole was approximately five feet by five feet. (Source)

(April 29) A sinkhole on Detroit’s west side has cut off water to one Detroit neighborhood. (Source)

(April 29) A water main broke underneath a San Ysidro street in San Diego, California, creating a sinkhole and forcing the closure of a stretch of the drenched street. (Source)

(April 29) A truck fell into the sink hole on Dobson Street in Evanston, Illinois back on April 18 and repairing the street is going to take a couple more days yet. (Source)

(April 28) A sinkhole in Cape Girardeau in Missouri may be getting bigger. Police are warning people not to get to close to the sinkhole to avoid any potential injuries. (Source)

(April 27) A sinkhole opened in a road in Taylorsville, Utah. The hole is about 6 feet wide on the surface, but under the asphalt it’s about 20 feet deep. (Source)

(April 26) One neighborhood in Council Bluffs in Iowa has a sinkhole problem. People in the area say they have been dealing with it for the last seven years and they want it fixed before more damage is done or someone gets hurt. (Source)

(April 26) The damage caused by the sinkhole on Folsom off Stadium Drive forced the city Boulder to shut down Folsom between Colorado Avenue and Taft Drive near the University of Colorado on Thursday morning. (Source)

(April 26) A sinkhole opened Thursday evening at Lehigh and 31st streets in Allentown, Pennsylvania, closing part of the intersection and snarling traffic in the area. (Source)

(April 26) Henrico County firefighters in Central Virginia have left yellow tape around a West End hole after a homeowner was trapped. (Source)

(April 26) A 10-foot-deep sinkhole shut down a stretch of McGavock Pike in Donelsonm, Tennessee on Thursday evening. (Source)

(April 25) Work is underway this week to fill a large sinkhole in Tennessee – on the Oak Ridge High School soccer field. (Source)

(April 24) Evening traffic on Highway 50 in Ontario, Canada, should be back to normal after the Region of Peel completed repairs to a sink hole that snarled early morning traffic Wednesday. (Source)

(April 24) A sinkhole — about 10 feet across and 10 feet deep — has emerged on the links of Chillicothe Country Club in Ohio. (Source)

(April 23) Sinkhole swallows a man’s car in Saskatoon, Canada. (Source)

(April 23) A large sinkhole near in inner north-western suburbs of Adelaide in South Australia has swallowed a stobie pole. (Source)

(April 22) A large culvert on Mines Road in Lowell, Vermont washed away from the heavy rains that took place late Friday. Vermont State Police says 3 people in 2 different cars were driving on the road early Saturday morning. Neither driver saw the hole that was about 30 feet across and 15 feet deep. Both cars landed at the bottom of the hole. The two drivers and a passenger were taken to the hospital, including one who fractured an arm. All have been released. (Source)

(April 19) A sinkhole at the intersection of Evans Road and East Morgan Street in Perris, California opened when a water line broke. (Source)

(April 19) A woman walking her dog was rescued Thursday night after she fell into a sinkhole in West Lafayette in Indiana. (Source)

(April 19) The intersection at North Main and Mulberry streets in Rockford, Illinois, is closed because of a sinkhole. (Source)

(April 19) A man said he may have the first sinkhole ever recorded in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The 3-foot by 3-foot hole in the 900 block of Saugatuck Trail is “pretty deep.” (Source)

(April 19) A highway near North Bay in Ontario, Canada, was closed Friday after a sinkhole opened on the road before 3 a.m. (Source)

Urban sinkholes a growing problem in Ontario, Canada

(April 18) A sinkhole that swallowed three cars on the Southeast Side in Chicago and injured one person was caused by an old water main that gave out. (Source)

(April 17) A sinkhole was discovered Tuesday on the Tailings disc golf course in Iron River, Michigan. (Source)

(April 15) City officials say a water main break is the cause of a sinkhole the size of a small car that happened on the south side of Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada. (Source)

Urban sinkholes a growing problem in Ontario, Canada

(April 15) A sinkhole opened late last week on the property of SunTrust Bank in downtown Suffolk, Virginia. Cracks and sunken areas seen in the background also appeared in the last week. (Source)

(April 14) A sinkhole approximately 18 inches wide opened up on Sango Road in Clarksville, Tennessee, causing part of the roadway to be blocked off. It is not the first time for a sinkhole to appear in the road, and the recurring issue leaves local residents irritated. (Source)

(April 14) Nearly five feet wide and eight feet deep, a sinkhole on Princess View Drive in Allied Gardens is slowly growing. Neighbors estimate it first appeared two to three weeks ago, but they say the city of San Diego has not done anything more than put up a few orange cones and flimsy traffic barricades. (Source)

(April 12) U.S. 224, between Ohio 598 and 99, could be shut down for at least a week because of a growing 30-foot-deep sinkhole along the shoulder of the road. (Source)

(April 12) People who live in and near two Quebec City buildings evacuated Thursday after a sinkhole appeared in a nearby parking lot say they’ve noticed problems with the ground in their neighbourhood for years. (Source)

(April 12) A large sinkhole could endanger two homes in a neighborhood in Forestdale in Alabama, but Jefferson County authorities can’t do anything about it because it’s on private property, said two residents of the area. (Source)

(April 12) A massive sinkhole measuring 7 feet wide and 30 feet deep has formed outside Penn Hills High School in Pennsylvania. (Source)

(April 12) Hillsborough County officials in Florida are investigating a possible sinkhole found this evening outside a Thonotosassa home. In the area of the depression, there are two holes. One hole is two feet in diameter and the other one is one foot in diameter. Both holes appear to be greater than 15 feet deep. (Source)

(April 11) A 40-foot-deep hole that was only about 18 inches across opened up in the Beneficial Bank parking lot in Deptford Twp in New Jersey. (Source)

(April 11) A sinkhole has opened on Muench Street in Harrisburg, Central Pennsylvania, forcing the road to be shut down. (Source)

(April 11) A large sinkhole opened up on Bay Avenue, in Ocean City, South Jersey, causing a possible gas leak. (Source)

(April 10) A sinkhole measuring nearly 85 meters wide and 15 meters deep engulfed three houses in a town outside Russia’s fifth-largest city Nizhny Novgorod as some residents of the small village were slumbering. (Source)

(April 10) Heavy rains are the most probably cause of a 100-metre deep sink hole that appeared near Marvão in Upper Alentejo in Portugal on Tuesday evening. (Source)

(April 9) A West Knoxville teacher may be forced into bankruptcy because of a sinkhole in her yard. What you can see on the surface, a six foot by six foot hole, is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s what you don’t see below Debra Petersen’s home in Tennessee that’s causing one side to sink slowly into the ground. (Source)

(April 9) Citizens of Samara live in daily fear of the ground disappearing beneath them. Dozens of holes have sprung up across the city in recent weeks. The sinkholes have left a trail of devastation and reportedly claimed one life. They may look like stills from an apocalyptic horror film, but these images have become a daily reality for residents in a Russian city. (Source)

(April 8) A homeowner in Dodge County, Georgia, is concerned about his safety after another sinkhole forms in the middle of his pond sucking down the water and dirt. (Source)

(April 8) A man in Bleckley County, Georgia said a sinkhole that swallowed a pond on his property is now big enough to put a whole house in. The hole measures about 90 feet across and could be as deep as 50 feet. (Source)

(April 8) A large sinkhole has led to the closure of 8th Street between 5th and 6th avenues in downtown Huntington, West Virginia. (Source)

(April 6) Public works are investigating how a four-foot hole appeared in the pavement of a Highlands neighborhood street in Denver, Colorado. (Source)

(April 5) Could long cracks on a street in Bermuda Dunes in California cause a sinkhole? (Source)

(April 5) There are two crevices slowly expanding on each side of the street at the intersection of Riverwood Drive and Arbor Drive in Cottonwood subdivision in Franklin, Tennessee. (Source)

(April 4) A water main break caused a sink hole and flooding in Lighthouse Point, Florida. (Source)

(April 4) Officials say explosive concentrations of gas have been found in soil underneath two homes and a shed in the Bayou Corne community near a large sinkhole. (Source)

(April 4) Another sinkhole in Hillsborough County, Florida. A Ruskin family with children was forced to evacuate to a friend’s home after a sinkhole opened up behind their home.  (Source)

(April 4) A sinkhole appeared three weeks ago along Bagley in the alley next to the popular Mexican Village restaurant in Detroit. The hole is more than a foot wide and about 15 feet deep. (Source)

(April 4) A Bank of America branch in Georgetown, South Carolina, damaged by a sinkhole almost a year-and-a-half ago is closing its doors. (Source)

(April 4) A section of Northwood Avenue in Palmer Township in Leigh Valley, Pennsylvania, will be closed for several days due to sinkhole repairs. (Source)

(April 3) Sinkhole-plagued neighbors in Palmyra Pennsylvania, seek county’s help. (Source)

(April 3) A sinkhole at Woodlands West Apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee, has some residents concerned after a portion of a truck fell through the pavement. (Source)

(April 2) On Tuesday, officials in Hillsborough County released a video that shows the massive size of the deadly Florida sinkhole. The video shows the 60-foot-deep pit in the middle of the room where Jeff Bush was sleeping when the ground opened. A contractor took the video before the Seffner, Florida home was leveled by maneuvering a long pole equipped with a camera through the window of the bedroom. (Source)

(April 2) Road crews said no one was harmed when a sinkhole opened up in 1600 of Villa Avenue in Sioux City, Iowa. Water breaks in the area reported in early February had caused lots of undermining and damage to the streets, which crews believe is what caused the sink hole to appear. (Source)

(April 2) A sink hole in south Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, created quite the scare for one man. The rear of his truck fell into a hole. (Source)