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Man-eating sinkhole claims victim in Florida

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Batman, Mar 1, 2013.

  1. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    What would you have rescue workers do? A sinkhole like that is like a giant flushing toilet of mud. The guy's own brother said he never even saw the guy down there in the muck, and it's highly doubtful there are giant pockets of air for him to hang out in until the backhoe arrives and digs him out.

    It's a sad and rare set of circumstances, but the guy never had a chance.
     
  2. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    This picture is from Guatemala a couple of years ago, but it gives you an idea of what a sinkhole can do. You're basically asking them to set up heavy equipment on the edges of loose, unstable soil that drops off into a bottomless pit. As a California guy, think about what happens when the soil liquifies during an earthquake. That's what's happening here, only without the earthquake.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  3. dog eat dog world

    dog eat dog world New Member

    Did weird things on the TV set cause this?
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    That reminds me: what's Paris Hilton been up to?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  5. dog eat dog world

    dog eat dog world New Member

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41tO0xwSsco
     
  6. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Three days later there was still no visible sign of the sinkhole from outside of the house; that picture's hardly representative of the situation. And it looked to me like there was a lot of heavy equipment on the yards adjacent.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Pretty sure the rescue experts in the area have more information and knowledge at hand than a bunch of people throwing ideas around on an Interwebs board. ::)
     
  8. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    As I understand it, rescuers strung sensors down the hole that would have detected a mouse fart, but got nothing. If they thought there was reasonable evidence of life -- and that more people would not have been threatened by a rescue mission -- there would have been more effort. Anything flippant to the contrary is bullshit and not very funny. (Sorry, I used to live in the TB area and am well aware of how awful sinkholes are, so I'm sensitive.)
     
  9. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Another sinkhole now reported in the area, TV news just said.
     
  10. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  11. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Turns out it's a few miles northwest of the first one.

    http://www2.tbo.com/news/brandon/2013/mar/04/3/second-sinkhole-opens-in-seffner-near-site-where-m-ar-649588/
     
  12. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Sinkholes form for various reasons around the world, but in Florida it looks like they're formed by water dissolving limestone over hundreds of years, which is the same process that forms caves. Eventually the hole grows so big that the surface can no longer hold up and falls in.

    Ground penetrating radar can detect these developing sinkholes and will probably have to be used in the future to clear any further development.
     
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