[Brandon]

A sinkhole caused caused by tropical storm Agatha in Guatemala City on Sunday. Torrential rains brought by the first tropical storm of the 2010 season pounded Central America and southern Mexico, triggering deadly landslides.


Guatemala City sinkhole so big, so round it 'doesn't seem real'

From the air, the giant Guatemala City sinkhole appears so perfectly round and deep that photos of it almost look doctored.

Up close on the ground, “the only way to describe is to say it’s huge,” says David de Leon, the spokesman for the country’s disaster response agency, CONRED, who was reached by phone. “It doesn’t seem real.”

Rains from Tropical Storm Agatha opened the sinkhole in the residential zone 2 of downtown Guatemala City on Saturday night. CONRED estimates it is 100 feet deep and 65 feet across.



Geologists baffled by what to do with giant Guatemala sinkhole

Do you fill it? Will it get bigger? What caused it?

With smaller sinkholes often found in yards after rains, or as the result of digging, experts recommend dropping a concrete slab, gravel, or other solid material to the bottom of the hole, filling with clay-like soil, and finishing with topsoil. The material will usually settle, and it may be necessary to add more soil over time.

[jward]

Wow. When you can't take the ground under you for granted, it's hard to maintain a sense of safety! Imagine the next heavy rain in the neighborhood, with people wondering if the bottom is about to drop out from below their homes.

First picture looks Photoshop. I checked Google News to be sure. ;)

[Brandon]

not photochopped, just unbelievable

[Brandon]

Guess it's not a sinkhole

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...humans-caused/

I would be leaving that place, I thought I had read this a few years ago. Same thing happen in 2007.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ole-photo.html

[About Lee]

If you looked at the second picture you can tell that there was a tunnel of some form there. No wonder things like this happens. In the uk we have a lot of underground shafts that are always appearing on walk ways, roads etc...

[Brandon]

wow, this thread is about to kill our server..lol
1200 views from stumble alone, 500 guest online right now checking the site out

[Panache]

Eeeek.... It's terrible that people have to deal with such natural disasters.
That is weird though! Never knew a storm could cause sinkholes

[Cerberus]

Wow nice post. You hit it on the head when you needed to and instant traffic LOL Though sucks its going to kill the server LOL...I had that happen once on a site. But yeah it sucks about the sinkholes. I never seen one in real life. I would hate to be walking or driving and then BAM sinkhole.

[ssvs04]

They happen all the time here in the Orlando area taking a house down with it. It usually comes from one extreme of to much rain. Or being so dry where it has not rained in forever. The sink holes here most of the time give plenty of warning before the house collapses in the hole.