Swallowed Up By The Ground: Sinkholes!

A man has died in Israel after a sinkhole opened underneath a swimming pool, which at the time had people swimming in it.

Rescue workers retrieved the body.

Another man managed to climb out of the sinkhole.


pool.jpeg


https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-712728
 
That is one of the worst sinkhole incidents I've ever heard about.

But pool leaks have been the cause of sinkhole collapsing before. The slow trickle of water erodes the soft material in the hole, creates a dip in the liner, which causes more water to push through, which eventually causes enough water to start rapidly washing away more support. It's self-feeding. The sudden release of the pool water into the hole here acted like drain cleaner. There is typically an underground setup of void space and a surface trigger that creates a sinkhole collapse.
 
The Mrs woke me up and I've just coned off a section of my road with permission from the police because a potential sink hole's forming. The road's bubbling up anyway. This hasn't stopped a few arseholes driving through the cones anyway. Water pressure's low in my neighbour's houses so I've told them it would be a good idea to fill their bath tubs. The authorities are meant to be on their way. Two houses are flooding already.

edit: Anglian Water have arrived, I've asked them to chuck my road block back in my front garden when they've finished with it.

asinkholecromer001.jpg



https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/homes-without-water-after-burst-water-main-cromer-9163960

edit: the professionals have just turned up and closed the road properly instead .. holes are being drilled as I type.

asinkholecromer002.jpg
 
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Victory said:
@Swifty

What's the latest on your sinkhole?
Any word as to the cause?
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The road's still closed and a deliberate hole's been dug. It was a burst water main causing the road to bubble up and crack as well as a cavern forming. I stopped a bus with passengers that morning to warn the driver, he phoned his boss who ordered him to drive over it anyway so I had to guide the poor bloke through. That boss (East Anglia Sanders Coaches) needs sacking for endangering lives. Fortunately for us, is was a few houses down the hill from my house so we didn't get flooded although the Mrs had to move her car. Some people are so thick, quite a few were standing on the dangerous bit laughing and chatting about it. I had rope ready to throw in to try to get people out if it had given way although it's only about 10ft deep.

On the plus side, I've never blocked a road with official permission before so that was good fun (she filmed me doing it but I asked her not to publish that or give my name because people always look for someone to blame if things go bad), the Mrs got excited because journalists were on the phone to her (I was too busy re diverting traffic) and no one was hurt :) .. some old woman over the road at the same time had a gas leak to top it off but she was switched on enough to have all her doors and windows open she'd told me: "I've lived here 57 years and I've never seen something like this!" ..
 
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@Swifty

I hope it gets fixed quickly, and properly.

Amazing how these things happen.

You'll get a clipping from the local press to frame.
 
Victory said:
@Swifty

I hope it gets fixed quickly, and properly.

Amazing how these things happen.

You'll get a clipping from the local press to frame.
Click to expand...
I asked my Mrs to keep my name out of it because when things go wrong, people/insurance companies/councils etc look for anyone to blame and it's always the person at the bottom because shit rolls down hill .. so the Mrs said (on my request) that 'local residents built a road block' which was what got reported. I'd still be OK anyway because my conversation with the police would have been recorded but I'm too busy working the tourist season to be talking to local journalists trying to fill newspaper space. I might have considered that if I was out of work.
 
Swifty said:
I asked my Mrs to keep my name out of it because when things go wrong, people/insurance companies/councils etc look for anyone to blame and it's always the person at the bottom because shit rolls down hill .. so the Mrs said (on my request) that 'local residents built a road block' which was what got reported. I'd still be OK anyway because my conversation with the police would have been recorded but I'm too busy working the tourist season to be talking to local journalists trying to fill newspaper space. I might have considered that if I was out of work.
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I understand.
I wouldn't want my name in the press.

Just thought that an article and photo would be worth framing.
 
Not only a sinkhole, but a geothermal one to boot this time around. Yikes!

Perth woman seriously injured after falling into geothermal sinkhole in New Zealand​

An Australian woman has been seriously injured after falling into a geothermal sinkhole in New Zealand.
The Perth woman, described as elderly, fell into the sinkhole near a tourist attraction in Rotorua, on the North Island, at 2.20pm on Thursday.

She was helped out of the hole by her husband, who was also injured.
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https://www.news.com.au/travel/trav...d/news-story/64a1462f814b051550690bb5e7fea2de
 
Considering how many swimming pools there are in Israel, and how many were probably also built without permits, especially the older ones, I would think that there are a few, if not quite a few that are built on unstable ground. Re-inforced concrete can withstand a lot of weight so I suspect that maybe the thickness of the concrete was skimped on here.
 
Sharon Hill said:
The people who owned the pool where the Israeli guy died... were arrested for installing the pool without proper licenses. Maybe it would have prevented this tragedy because the subsurface was obviously unstable.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/pool-...e-grill-owner-over-suspected-safety-failures/
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Looking at how it collapsed, it looks to me like they didn't put down any reinforced concrete to support the load.
They just thin-skinned it by lining the dirt hole and putting plastic sheeting down. The dirt underneath was too soft to support the weight.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Looking at how it collapsed, it looks to me like they didn't put down any reinforced concrete to support the load.
They just thin-skinned it by lining the dirt hole and putting plastic sheeting down. The dirt underneath was too soft to support the weight.
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It's not just the weight. Pool liners leak and this creates the void into which it ultimately collapses.
 
hunck said:
There’s a short video of it here - looks remarkably circular. The mayor of Tierra Amarillo says it’s active & still growing, the mining company says it’s stable.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-62392233
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I would guess this is salt karst. There are well-developed salt caves here. With the groundwater 650 feet below the surface, possibly drawn down from the copper mine which appears to be at least that deep, it's feasible to think that this is a salt cavern collapse due to dissolution. Because it's so deep, it ends up looking quite round in surface opening.
 
Turkey's village of sinkholes:

turkishsinkhole.jpg


Welcome to Sinkhole Village. Turkey's mysterious craters are swallowing up fertile farming land in the nation's breadbasket​

The gaping pit next to Mustafa Acar's shed measured approximately 7 metres across and seemed to appear out of nowhere one afternoon.

Only hours earlier, he had been sitting in that exact spot, cooling off in the shade after a hard day's work on his farm, tending to his flock.

Peering down over the edge into the darkness, he noticed the pit had a distinct cylindrical shape, as if it were cut with an enormous machine.

"I was in a daze for a month after that," Mr Acar said.

The farmer, from Turkey's Konya province, now avoids walking on his property at night for fear he might trip and fall to his death.
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08...-swallowing-up-fertile-farming-land/101310474
 
Lord Lucan said:
Turkey's village of sinkholes:

View attachment 57945

Welcome to Sinkhole Village. Turkey's mysterious craters are swallowing up fertile farming land in the nation's breadbasket​


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08...-swallowing-up-fertile-farming-land/101310474
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Caused by excessive withdrawal of the groundwater. Whenever you affect the hydrologic balance - taking too much water out of the subsurface or putting water where it previously wasn't on the surface, you run the risk of sinkholes in prone areas.
 
A mine cavity collapse beneath Tombstone (Arizona) has created a sizable hole in the ground.

TombstoneSinkhole-2208.jpeg
Tombstone mine caves in

A mining stope, or open hole, in the Vizina Mining Claim in Tombstone has caved and created a hole in the surface in due to recent heavy rains.

According to a public notice from the city of Tombstone, the hole is approximately 50 feet south of the nearby Toughnut Street, and doesn’t present any danger to the street.

Regular size vehicles are safe for travel on Toughnut Street. However, city officials asked that all delivery trucks, RVs and semi trucks refrain from using the road ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.kold.com/2022/08/18/tombstone-mine-caves/
 
This North Carolina woman walked out the front door of a local car dealership and the ground collapsed beneath her, dropping her into an 8-feet-deep sinkhole.
Winston-Salem woman falls in massive sinkhole in parking lot

A North Carolina woman escaped with just minor injuries Monday after falling into a sinkhole at a used car dealership.

Kia Long-Gyant said the ground collapsed beneath her in the parking lot as she came out of the back door of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, where she was getting her car detailed.

“I pulled into the parking lot, got out, went into the building, came out with the salesperson and the ground collapsed beneath me," Long-Gyant said.

Firefighters got her out of the sinkhole safely.

Long-Gyant was hospitalized with scrapes and bruises but no broken bones. According to the Winston-Salem Fire Department, the hole was roughly 15 feet wide and 8 feet deep.

A department spokesperson couldn't identify a cause, but Tracy Myers, the dealership owner, said an underground pipe collapsed.

Myers is working with the city to identify the exact cause and repair the pipe. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.wral.com/winston-salem-woman-falls-in-massive-sinkhole-in-parking-lot/20466785/
 
SimonBurchell said:
I just posted on the Guatemala thread about new sinkholes in Guatemala, with 2 missing:

Sinkholes in Guatemala City
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Important to note in this incident, this was not a karst sinkhole. This was the result of poor design for urban sub-surface sewer and stormwater drainage which was known to be unstable and had previously collapsed.
 
Sharon Hill said:
Important to note in this incident, this was not a karst sinkhole. This was the result of poor design for urban sub-surface sewer and stormwater drainage which was known to be unstable and had previously collapsed.
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Sharon, you know more about sinkholes than I ever will. Why are these usually round rather than irregular?
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
Sharon, you know more about sinkholes than I ever will. Why are these usually round rather than irregular?
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If there is a collapse in the subsurface, it's often a small drain at the opening. Physics dictates that as the hole expands upwards by stoping the loose material above it into the drain, and by erosion from the surface, it becomes roughly circular. Erosion tends to eliminate edges. There are many sinkholes that end up being elongated, especially in limestone areas, because the circular holes overlap at the surface or there is preferential erosion on one side.
 
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