Authorities in western Pennsylvania are worried that a sinkhole may have swallowed a grandma who vanished while searching for her cat.
On Tuesday, crews lowered a pole camera equipped with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but no sound was heard. Meanwhile, a second camera that was lowered revealed what appeared to be a shoe.
According to police, Elizabeth Pollard’s family called them at around one in the morning to report that she hadn’t been seen since she went looking for her cat on Monday night. In her parked automobile close to the manhole-sized gap, they discovered Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter.
The following information relates to sinkholes:
What are sinkholes?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a sinkhole is a region of ground that lacks natural external surface drainage and can develop when the earth beneath the land surface is no longer able to sustain the land above it.
Until the subterranean regions simply get too large, the land typically remains intact for a while. The land surface may abruptly and dramatically collapse if the land above the voids is not adequately supported.
How common are sinkholes?
The most prevalent sinkholes are found in what geologists refer to as karst terrain, which is made up of subsurface rock types, such as limestone, that are naturally dissolved by groundwater flowing through them. They may also occur as a result of abandoned underground mines.
In the United States, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania typically experience the most damage from sinkholes. For instance, Florida’s location above limestone makes it extremely vulnerable to sinkholes.
How big are sinkholes?
Small holes that are only a few feet wide to ones that span hundreds of acres are examples of sinkholes. Additionally, they can range in depth from a few inches to over 100 feet. While some have vertical walls, others resemble shallow bowls or saucers. Some create ponds by retaining water.
Other recent sinkholes
A massive sinkhole in southern Illinois engulfed the middle of a soccer field constructed on top of a limestone mine in June, destroying a big light pole and creating a huge chasm where groups of children frequently play. Nobody was harmed.
A sinkhole that killed a man sleeping in his Tampa, Florida, suburban home in 2013 returned for a third time in 2023, but this time it was enclosed by chain-link fencing and did not injure anyone or damage any property. Given the porous limestone basis of central Florida, officials said the sinkhole reopening was not out of the ordinary.
In 2020, a man was mowing his yard in South Dakota when a big sinkhole appeared nearby. According to a lawyer for some of the local homeowners, testing found a 40-foot-deep pit mine in one corner of the neighborhood and a sizable, inadequately sealed mine beneath a portion of the housing subdivision. Sinkholes have proliferated since the initial massive collapse.
In southeastern Texas, a sizable sinkhole that in 2008 engulfed oil field machinery and a few cars grew in 2023 when a second sinkhole formed and joined the first.
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