Mother of all sinkholes

[m21sniper]

There was one neighborhood here where entire blocks were sinking, and the city had to buy the people out and level all the houses.

The idea that a hole in the ground hundreds of feet deep could just open and swallow a whole family is pretty disturbing, but...that's life.

[Heel n Toe]

That thing is the perfect size for setting up a ramp and letting the locals jump it on their dirt bikes.

[rnln]

why these holes are always so... perfectly rounded and.. dry?

[Superman]

If I were a Guatemala city official, I would consider putting something, anything around those holes. Caution tape, perhaps.

[Rot 911]

That can't be good for neighboring property values.

[widebody911]

This isn't madness, this.. is.. GUATEMALA!

Looks like there was some sort of trenching work going on adjacent to the hole; I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

[flatbutt]

yikes, that'll keep you up at night. But it doesn't look big enough to have swallowed a dozen homes. But it sure does look like Morlocks or even Orcs could come pouring out.

[m21sniper]

Over 50% of the US is said to be built on similar rock deposits, according to this:

Guatemala City Sinkhole

Originally Posted by flatbutt

But it sure does look like Morlocks or even Orcs could come pouring out.

From your mouth to God's ear, i am soooooooooo ready for that....

[sammyg2]

I'm surprised that there is still anyone in Guatemala. I thought they were all in California.

[Steve Carlton]

Astonishing!

[porsche4life]

All I can say about that is.... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!


That ain't no hundred feet to the bottom neither.... Hundred feet to the beginning of the abyss maybe...

[GG Allin]

Curious what the status is of the one from '07. Filled in? Roped off? Bigger?

[m21sniper]

That hole really is amazing. It looks like the gate to hell.

[rnln]

Got the answer. Million years ago, when the aliens weree here, they drilled many water/oil wells. After times, these wells were covered with dirt... You know the rest of the story. I bet you'll find a lot of UFO stuff down at the bottom

[GWN7]

News report said it was 200' deep.

They can happen just about anywhere......May 13 a Quebec family died after one swallowed their home.

Family of four found dead in Quebec sinkhole - Americas- msnbc.com

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

That can't be good for neighboring property values.

what are the odds you get two right next to each other?

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Tobra

what are the odds you get two right next to each other?

well, just for the sake of comparison...look how many we have posting back to back here on the political threads.

[masraum]

Stuff from wikipedia.

Sinkholes

In February 2007, a large sinkhole opened in a poor neighborhood in northeast Guatemala city 14°39′1.40″N 90°29′25″W / 14.650389°N 90.49028°W / 14.650389; -90.49028, killing three people. The sinkhole was 100 m (330 ft) deep, and apparently was created by fluid from a sewer dissolving the rock underneath. As a result, one thousand people were evacuated from the area.[20] The sinkhole has since been mitigated and plans to develop on the site have been proposed.

In May 2010, another sinkhole, which was larger than a street intersection, developed after Tropical Storm Agatha. It engulfed a three story building and a house. 14°39′7.50″N 90°30′21.5″W / 14.652083°N 90.505972°W / 14.652083; -90.505972 [21] This 2010 sinkhole is at least 18 m (60 ft) wide and 60 m (200 ft) deep.[22][23] The distance between the recent (2010) sinkhole and the similar sinkhole three years ago is only about two kilometers (according to their coordinates).

Here's the spot of the 2007 sinkhole.

[widgeon13]

So what do they do to fill it? I don't want to back up a full dump truck to the edge of that hole.

[legion]

They didn't say "fill", they said "mitigate".

I want to know what "mitigate" means in this context.