Wednesday, November 3, 2010

30-Meter Wide Sinkhole Opens up and Swallows Car in Germany (with Post-Event Video)


Here's some recent global infrastructure news from Thuringia, Germany: a 30-meter wide, 25-meter deep sinkhole recently opened up in an unsuspecting neighborhood to swallow up some property. In this case, the only losses were a car, some road, and a driveway and garage door.
The sinkhole, which is one of the largest ones to form in Thuringia, is suspected to be the result of "a salt column, calcium sulphate or limestone [dissolving]". According to reports, the region averages twenty smaller sinkholes a year.
No one was hurt this time, but people were still evacuated as a precautionary measure in case more dirt started to cave in. By the time you read this, service crews should be at work repairing the road, filling the sinkhole, and ensuring that peoples' homes are still habitable.
By Phil Alex
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