Trouble without end: Gulp! Massive 70-foot sinkhole swallows supermarket parking lot – and it’s getting bigger by the hour

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Gulp! Massive 70-foot sinkhole swallows supermarket parking lot – and it’s getting bigger by the hour

When it was discovered at 8am, it was 30 feet wide and five feet deep
By 10am, it had grown to 70 feet wide and 15 feet deep
By MICHAEL ZENNIE

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A massive 70-foot sinkhole has opened in the parking lot of a Florida supermarket – and the cavernous void is growing by the hour.
When it first developed Thursday morning in front of a Publix in Winter Haven – outside Tampa, the hole was just 30 feet wide and less than five feet deep.
By the afternoon, geologists and engineers say the depression had spread to 70 feet wide and 15 feet deep and it has shown no signs of stopping.
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The sink hole is now believed to be 70 feet wide and 15 feet deep – consuming a large park of the parking lot of a Publix outside Tampa, Florida

The sinkhole has caused the pavement to ripple, creating a bizarre effect
The collapse of the earth beneath the parking lot has caused the pavement to buckle and warp dozens of yards away from the center of the hole.
Sinkholes are somewhat common in Florida, where much of the ground is supported by porous rocks that can dissolve beneath the soil over time.

And the most common place for sinkholes to develop is in the Tampa area, which has been nicknamed ‘Sinkhole Alley.’
‘The asphalt continues to ripple, but I’ve been told by geotechnical engineers that that can be just asphalt shifting because the ground near it has shifted,’ Brian Swain, the property manager, told WFTS-TV.

Spreading: The sinkhole continues to grow – though there is no risk to the surrounding buildings yet

Sinkholes are somewhat common in Florida, where much of the ground is supported by porous rocks that can dissolve beneath the soil over time. And the most common place for sinkholes to develop is in the Tampa area, which has been nicknamed ‘Sinkhole Alley.’
None of the nearby businesses have been evacuated yet, but experts are keeping an eye on the sinkhole’s growth.
There were no cars parked in the lot when the sinkhole developed and there have been no injuries.
The property manager cordoned off the area while geologists examined the bedrock with sonar to determine how much the sinkhole was likely to continue to grow.

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