LOWELL, Vt. -

When you’re driving down the road – it’s safe to bet, the road will be there. Well, for one family, that was apparently just too much to assume.

There’s a massive sinkhole in Lowell, that swallowed an entire family.

Neighbors say the cars compared to the hole – looked like matchbox cars.

It was the husband’s quick thinking that likely kept the family alive.

Mines Road in Lowell is closed indefinitely, and for good reason - much of it isn’t even there anymore.

“That’s something that you don’t expect, the road is supposed to be there, you don’t expect it to disappear on you,” Ryan Sargent said.

But a family of three, Brian, Angel and Alex Richardson were driving home late Saturday night in two different cars and ended up at the bottom of the hole. Sargent is a good friend of the Richardson’s and saw them later that day. Other than bumps, bruises and one broken arm, everyone is ok.

“He was sore, he was just lucky, he was just happy that everybody was safe,” Sargent said.

Now when this happened it was late at night, so it was dark and it was raining heavily, but the sinkhole that swallowed the Richardson family is 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep. A neighbor told me that Mr. Richardson was able to think fast; when he saw his wife’s headlights disappear and swerved, in order to avoid crushing his wife and son.

Police think the plastic culvert that was in place couldn’t handle the flash flood and washed out the road. I learned that just this past October, the original, metal culvert that was 20 years old, collapsed and was replaced.

“It was crazy, that’s one thing you don’t expect when you’re driving down the road,” Sargent added.

Back at the house… dirt, broken glass — evidence from the terrifying night is literally pouring out of their smashed up cars. A memory they won’t soon forget.

The culvert will obviously need to be done again.

The state highway department is doing the investigation – and will likely be responsible for the majority of the project.

To prevent this from ever happening again, they’re looking at building a cement culvert.

Full article…here

Look out below!

According to a report from Granite Broadcasting sister station WKBW in Buffalo, N.Y., a man in Batavia, N.Y. fell into a suspected sinkhole in his backyard.

According to the WKBW report:

The man says he was outside working on his home when the ground just simply opened up. The hole was about five feet deep.

The man was not hurt and city engineers are investigating whether his yard may be on top of an old sewer line.

Full article…here

Workers are repairing a 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

It started as an 18-inch hole two weeks ago, said Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools maintenance and operations supervisor. A section of the field “fell out,” and water was observed at the bottom.

Workers dug down about eight feet and found water running in, Thacker said.

He said there were concerns about the 198 geothermal wells buried up to 300 feet deep under the soccer field, which was built in 2005. Water that circulates through plastic pipes in the wells helps heat and cool the high school.

While the sinkhole is next to a geothermal well, it is not caused by a problem with any of the wells, Thacker said.

Geoservices of Knoxville drilled 10-foot and 12-foot holes on either side of the sinkhole and recommended a reverse rock filter. That uses a pile of rocks that start with large 12? rocks on the bottom, tapering off to fine “crusher run” on top, covered by three to four feet of clay and one foot of topsoil.

Thacker said the work should be finished by the end of the week. He is scheduled to give an update on the sinkhole during an Oak Ridge Board of Education meeting at 7 p.m. today.

To make the repairs, Blount Excavating has dug a hole in the middle of the soccer field about 15 to 20 feet wide and 13 feet deep, down to the lowest water point.

Thacker said the work could cost between $42,000 and $45,000. Sod could be replaced on the field between Monday and Wednesday next week. The field can be used 10-14 days after that.

The Oak Ridge Wildcats boys soccer team has away games this week. Two home games next week will be played at Blankenship Field, Thacker said.

ORLANDO, Fla. — 

Southwest Marion County residents Roy and Pat Meinson noticed cracks continually re-appearing in the home where they have lived for 19 years.

Many Monroe County residents could be living on a sinkhole and not know it.

Sinkholes in the county are nothing unusual. In fact, they’re quite common, according to C. Pius Weibel, senior geologist with the Illinois Geological Survey.

“There are probably more sinkholes in Monroe County than any other county in Illinois,” Weibel said.

Although a man fell into a sinkhole last month at Annbriar Golf Course near Waterloo, the known sinkholes — about 13,000 — are not the primary concern of the county’s residents, professional geologist Philip Moss said. The documented sinkholes are visible as depressions in the ground, but there are an unknown number of hidden sinkholes that can only be definitively identified through geophysical surveys.

The primary area of concern is within the sinkhole plain in the western part of the county. Moss said that, to his knowledge, there has been no effort made to map these hidden sinkholes, which could number in the tens of thousands.

“The tests would be expensive and labor intensive,” Moss said. “If someone has a particular interest, they need to have a survey done on the property they are interested in.”

Commercial developers should consider paying for a geophysical survey before construction, Moss said. Private homeowners should be careful about where they choose to build.

“Within the sinkhole plain, flat spots are very suspicious to me,” Moss said. “If I were a homeowner, I wouldn’t build on flat land.”

The land given preferential treatment for development in Monroe County is the least productive farmland, which is hilly, he said. The land with the most hills contains the most sinkholes. It’s Moss’ contention that the flat areas between the hills are most likely to have hidden sinkholes, which, like visible sinkholes, formed over thousands of years as holes that formed in the soil and migrated toward the surface.

More land is being developed as the county’s population continues to grow. The census bureau estimated that 33,357 people lived in Monroe County in 2012, a 21 percent increase since 2000. The county experienced a 23.2 percent growth rate between 1990 and 2000.

Hidden problem

A dilemma for those who live in the sinkhole plain is that they probably do not know they live in a problem area. Much of western Monroe County and a portion of southern St. Clair County are in the plain. Although the sinkhole plain has been well-documented, its exact location is very difficult for the average citizen to determine.

Moss said neither the Monroe County Geographic Information System website (http://monroeil.mygisonline.com/) nor the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website make the information easily available to the public. The Illinois DNR website has maps that identify the sinkhole plain, but Moss said the maps are too encompassing and include areas not in the sinkhole plain.

The Monroe County Comprehensive Plan maps all known sinkholes in the county, but does not indicate what land is in the sinkhole plain. Property owners or perspective buyers can buy special software to view sinkhole plain maps, or contact an engineering company that may be willing to share the information.

Monroe County Zoning Administrator Mike Fausz said that a soil and water report must be completed on all land being developed. The report will tell whether the land has “karst” characteristics.

Karst is a landscape formed by the process of soluble (dissolvable) rocks being broken down under the ground. About 9 percent of Illinois and 33 percent of Monroe County is karst, which is characterized by sinkholes, caves and underground drainage systems.

A potential developer may not know what karst is, but they have a duty to educate themselves, Fausz said.

“Can I tell you that everyone knows what karst is? No. But if someone is going to do development, they will need to do their due diligence,” Fausz said.

The Monroe County zoning code has regulations for developing on known sinkholes and restricts mobile home parks from being built on karst topography. There are no codes for other types of development on karst, Fausz said.

Is more regulation needed?

Moss, who is a karst expert, believes the regulations for building on karst should differ from those for building on all other landscape types. Weibel said there was a push about 10 years ago to have statewide rules for karst development, but they were never enacted. He agreed with Moss that regulations are needed.

“There should be some rules in those areas to protect their own people, because it really is different,” Weibel said.

Moss believes that residents of the Illinois Sinkhole Plain should be more concerned with their fiscal safety than their physical safety. Because houses are typically larger than sinkholes, a home on top of a hidden sinkhole isn’t likely a safety concern.

“Generally there is enough structural integrity that it would cause a lot of damage, but not death,” Moss said. “But, the damage could be greater than the value of the home.”

Homeowners are at risk because their insurance policies do not protect them in the case of sinkhole damage. Insurance broker Joe Swierczek, of FLS Insurance Agency in Columbia, said sinkhole insurance is a separate part of policies, and one not many people have chosen.

“After the Annbriar incident, a lot of clients called to check to see if we have it,” Swierczek said. “We added it to a handful of policies.”

Few companies offer sinkhole insurance in Illinois. Connie Fingerhut, of FLS Insurance Agency, said only two of the 10 companies the agency works with offer the coverage, which is different than mine subsidence and earthquake insurance.

It would cost less for a person living in the sinkhole plain to buy sinkhole insurance than to have their land surveyed to determine whether their home is in danger, Moss said. Fingerhut estimated that most homeowners can purchase the insurance for less than $100 per year, although the cost varies based on the price and type of home.

Moss suggested that if a person decides against buying insurance, their other options are to sell or hope no sinkhole damage will occur. He acknowledges that he does not know of any cases in Monroe County in which a home was proven to have suffered sinkhole damage.

Should residents be afraid?

Although he is unaware of any homes damaged from sinkholes, Moss thinks the growing population of Monroe County, coupled with the lack of information about the potential hazard, make it likely that an incident will occur in the future.

Climatologist Iben Browning predicted a major earthquake would occur on Dec. 3, 1990, in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. The day passed without so much as a tremor, but Browning’s prediction raised awareness that a major earthquake could occur in the region.

About 50 percent of FLS’ clients carried earthquake insurance prior to Browning’s predictions. After the prediction, about 99 percent picked it up and have kept it, Swierczek said.

Moss is not predicting imminent disaster or expecting a Browning-like response for sinkhole insurance, he just wants the public to be aware of potential risks.

“I’m not trying to protect people from themselves,” Moss said. “I’m trying to protect people from a lack of information, people thinking they have insurance and they don’t.”

Moss said he did not want to alarm anyone living in the sinkhole plain.

“I don’t want to panic people that if they own a house in the sinkhole plain that it’s a matter of time until it sinks. I don’t think that is true at all,” Moss said. “(A sinkhole) could open up at any time, but it is unlikely to be life-threatening. It could be financial solvency threatening.”

CHICAGO — One person was hospitalized after a sinkhole swallowed three cars in the South Deering neighborhood on the Southeast Side of Chicago Thursday.

The person was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Witnesses said the hole opened up around 5 a.m. at 9600 South Houston Avenue, quickly growing from about 20 feet to about 40 feet.

First two cars slid in, then a third as the hole widened, witnesses said. A fourth vehicle was towed from the edge as it was about to fall inside, witnesses said.

The man who was injured was trying to drive his car around the hole when the road gave way, according to witnesses. The man suffered minor head injuries.

Ola Oni said she was about to leave for work at 5 a.m. but had not gotten in her car yet when it suddenly fell into the hole.

“It could have happened to me, I am lucky, I’m happy,” Oni said. “In this kind of neighborhood, I don’t think this should happen.”

She gestured toward the hole. “Look at this, this neighborhood is in danger.”

The sinkhole opened up after a water main broke, according to Tom LaPorte, spokesman for the Water Department.

The heavy rain could have contributed to the break of the cast iron pipe that dates back to 1915, he said. Officials are looking at the age of the main as well as weather conditions.

Full article…here

Councilman Young told WGNS News that the 16-inch line that carries the effluent water from a pump to the pond has a run of approximately 600 feet. Plus, that pipe is burried around 20 feet underground. (above photo shows Councilman Young standing beside the hole that crews have scooped out to get to the pipe)

Earth X-Ray To Show If Pipe Has Additional Leaks

Young noted that there are two ways to repair the leaking pipe. But first, an ultra-sound type picture of the earth will be made. It will show if the deeply buried water line has other leaks. From that information, engineers will decide whether it’s wisest to replace the entire section of pipe or to push a slightly smaller piece of line into the leaking section–thus creating a sleeve that will stop the leak.

For Now Gateway Pond is Waterless

Councilman Young points to repairs that city engineers have made to stop earthern leaks in the pond. The city’s effluent water fills the pond in approximately two-days and surrounds the island that has become a popular attraction for weddings, parties and other functions. Walking trails around the pond connect to the city’s greenway system and are filled with walkers and runners daily from dawn to dusk.

What looks like large rocks in the picture below, are actually giant pressure fountains that spray a tower of water twenty feet into the air. There are three huge spayers spaced across the lower section of the pond. Not only does this aerate the water, but it also makes a visually attractive water sculpture that moves with the wind.

The facility is operated by the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department.

Full article…here

MILLFIELD — A large sinkhole at the site of the former Millfield mine is being filled as a safety precaution.

Residents of Chauncey and Millfield saw dozens of concrete trucks travel through their towns Friday and Wednesday to reach the mine location on Millfield Road. The site is the former Sunday Creek Coal Co. underground mine where in 1930 an explosion resulted in the deaths of 82 people, making it Ohio’s worst mining disaster. The mine has been closed for decades.

Always a serious situation, sinkholes just became the hot-topic risk. How should adjusters approach the claims?

From New Guinea to New York City, the earth is opening up underneath us. A sign of the Apocalypse? No, a sign of another sinkhole — which while scary and sometimes deadly — is a lesson in science more than a lesson in religion.

News surrounding sinkholes in Florida have served as an industry-wide wakeup call to a risk that has always been there and isn’t going away. The threat is easily overlooked, and that plays a big role in the losses being exacerbated. While sinkholes are not restricted to one area of the country, their presence or sudden appearance can be predicted, to some extent, by understanding what’s underfoot.

Sinkholes are naturally occurring events that are caused by a process that occurs underground every day in various parts of the world. Ranging from the minute (3 feet or under) to more than 2,000 feet in depth and diameter, sinkholes can occur over time without being noticed until the landscape is suddenly or drastically changed.

Blame it on Karst

Sinkholes occur in areas where rock under the surface is made up of limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds or rocks prone to dissolution by groundwater; also known as a karst process, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), part of the Department of the Interior. As water circulates through the rock or as the rock dissolves by other means, spaces develop. A sinkhole could be large, yet because the surface of the earth is intact, they go undetected — until the hole swallows up the ground above it.

While Florida is riddled with sinkhole activity, no area east of the Rockies seems immune. The USGS suggests that states prone to sinkhole activity include Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

The effects are dramatic. In 2006, a Manhattan street opened up and swallowed an SUV. The collapse was blamed on a water main break that eroded the ground under the street. In Allentown, Pa., in 2011, a suburban yard dropped out of sight, leaving a hole 100 feet wide and 40 feet deep. During a rainstorm in Utah in July 2011, the road opened up 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and a car fell in, killing a 15-year-old. Then there’s the sinkhole on Feb. 28 that killed a Florida man when the ground collapsed under his house, leaving a hole nearly 20 feet wide and 29 and a half feet deep.

Typical Claim Issues

States have different laws for sinkhole coverage, but in Florida, the laws have been refined to address not just coverage, but the definition of what constitutes sinkholes and structural damage. That’s because claims are outpacing premiums by up to four times the amount collected. For example, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s largest property insurer, paid more than $84 million in sinkhole losses; earned premiums for that coverage came in at just $19.6 million. Thanks to rate caps of 10 percent annually, Citizens and companies like it have no way of recouping the losses.

Hence the reason many insurers are limiting how much sinkhole liability they carry, and the reason why a few insurers in the state won’t cover it at all.

Maria Abate, shareholder with Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky, Abate & Webb, P.A. in Ft. Lauderdale, said her state has sinkhole coverage, as well as catastrophic ground cover collapse, which is required coverage on every policy.

In 2005, Florida law also required structural damage to a building, including the foundation, as part of the definition of a sinkhole loss. That specific language, according to Abate, resulted from years of refining the definitions and regulatory language so that frivolous claims were reduced. Laws prior to 2005 simply stated that any physical damage to a building caused by sinkhole activity would be covered. This led to claims for cracks or damage that may not have been caused by a sinkhole. In 2005, due to the amount of claims made for minute cosmetic damage, the law changed to require structural damage.

However, Abate said structural damage definition was not specifically defined in the law until 2011, leading to divergent court rulings. That made the change in 2011 essential, which gave structural damage a technical clarification. “Today the sinkhole statutes require coverage for structural damage to a building as defined by law, which was caused by sinkhole activity.”

Even with the new definitions, Abate said most claim amounts are still at or near policy limits. “These are expensive claims due to the need to remediate the land and fill the sinkhole.”

Adjudicating Shifting Sands

When is a sinkhole really a sinkhole, and when is damage covered? That’s the question adjusters must sort out. It’s a question with no easy answer, depending on state laws. While states like Florida have done well to create legislation that curbs frivolous claims, the industry is still being pulled under by the volume and dollar amount of claims.

Jaime Wester, owner of Champion Foundation Repair in Tampa, said her company has seen the struggle to bring definition and fairness to the sinkhole issue. She sees insurers a bit behind the eight ball, thanks to the unpredictable nature of sinkholes. “When there are hurricanes and storms, it’s easier for insurance companies to track,” she said. “With sinkholes, the loss depends on the situation.”

Part of the problem, asserted Wester, rests within the building industry. “The building codes aren’t strong enough, so let’s just drain a swamp and put some houses up on three-inch slabs. Of course the houses are going to have problems.”

The sinkhole situation has created a trepidation that borders on overkill, as Wester illustrated. “You have to have a home inspection, and if they find one crack, you won’t get coverage. You can’t even have a crack in your driveway.”

Wester was at a conference on sinkholes attended by attorneys and structural engineers. The topic was the definition of structural damage. “I sat there for four hours — no one had an answer. If they can’t figure it out, how do you expect an adjuster to figure it out?” she asked.

Perhaps that’s why coverage in other states is not standard on homeowners policies. Loretta Worters, vice president of communications for the Insurance Information Institute in Manhattan, said Florida is the only state requiring sinkhole events to be covered by insurance. In other states, coverage is either required to be available or excluded from the general homeowners policy.

Melissa Fox, deputy press secretary for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, backs Worters’ view. She said Pennsylvania is second only to Florida in the number of sinkhole events. Fox suggested that may be reflected in the state’s homeowners coverage. “Here in Pennsylvania, damage due to sinkholes/earth movement is not a standard coverage in your homeowner’s policy. To get this coverage, you would need to purchase it separately as an endorsement.”

Tennessee is also ripe for sinkhole activity. The USGS map shows a wide swath of karst from carbonate rock occurring throughout much of the state. Christopher Garrett, Tennessee’s Department of Commerce and Insurance director of communications, said his state mandates sinkhole coverage.

Worters said there are some steps adjusters and insurers can take before a sinkhole event occurs. She said no one can know when a sinkhole will hit, but there are ways to recognize a developing problem. Buildings with developing cracks, she said, and door jambs and windows that suddenly don’t work properly could be signs of an impending issue.

Worters suggested understanding the geology of the region as a basis for understanding the potential for sinkhole damage in the future. Also, adjusters and insurers should determine how often municipalities inspect their underground lines, particularly water lines. “Moving water is a major triggering mechanism.”

When adjudicating a claim, Abate said adjusters must make sure damage is consistent with sinkholes. Also, it’s key to establish when the damage was first observed. A common problem with claims, she said, is the backdating of dates of loss to fall under the more flexible regulations prior to 2011.

Also, she said adjusters should make sure damage falls within the policy period. Was damage reported by this owner or a previous one in the past? “A good investigation can uncover prior sinkhole claims,” she said. The inspection will also lead adjusters to their next step — calling in specialized help. If there is damage consistent with a sinkhole, Abate suggested adjusters can contact geologists and engineers.

Sinkholes are a phenomena that are difficult to prevent, but not impossible to predict. Adjusters will continue to try understanding the risk. “It will probably take a court case,” Wester said. “It will take a judge to define it and the decision be upheld to set a precedent.”

Full article…here