Free Republic

This ain’t your garden-variety travel headache. New Jersey is on pace for a nightmare summer spanning planes, trains and automobiles — as sinkhole-ridden highways, persistent chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport and a likely transit strike threaten to upend travel plans at the worst possible time. And there are no easy, or quick solutions in sight. As the clock ticked down Thursday to the first NJ Transit rail strike in 40 years, one expert told The Post that efforts to remedy the labor dispute — which would see 350,000 daily riders stranded — are the lucrative contracts being handed out...

A mammoth sinkhole opened along a major New Jersey interstate Thursday morning, closing several lanes and pushing motorists onto local roads to avoid the pit. The sinkhole — which appeared large enough to swallow several cars — opened on the shoulder of Interstate 80 in Wharton sometime around 7:45 a.m., according to NJ.com. Construction crews swarmed the area around Exit 34 as they tried to work out a solution to the post-Christmas surprise. Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Transportation closed the eastbound lanes — leading to a lengthy backup that clogged the highway. “Motorists should expect delays or plan an...

On the far eastern edge of Yemen, far from any cities or well-traveled roads, there's a black mark in the desert, like a giant eye peering up from the earth. Regardless of how uncanny it looks from above, it is a natural phenomenon, a perfectly round and profoundly deep sinkhole called the Well of Barhout, or the "Well of Hell." It's easy to see why. Without the help of wings or long ropes, anything that disappears into this 367-foot-deep hole is not going to come out.For centuries, sinister legends have swirled around the Well of Barhout. It's said that visiting...

A grandmother looking for her lost cat apparently fell into a sinkhole that had recently opened above an abandoned western Pennsylvania coal mine and rescuers worked late into the night Tuesday to try and find her. Bright lights illuminated snow flurries and various equipment at the site while crews worked above and below ground, video from the scene showed. Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole in Marguerite on Tuesday morning but it detected nothing. A camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the...

Terrifying surveillance video has captured the moment a tourist was suddenly swallowed by a sinkhole while walking down a busy Malaysia street — sending her plummeting some 26 feet below ground and sparking a frantic search for the still-missing woman. Rescue workers have been scrambling around the clock ever since Vijaya Lakshmi, 48, disappeared into the massive sinkhole in the center of Kuala Lumpur ... Chilling CCTV footage showed an unsuspecting Lakshmi, who was visiting from India, strolling along before the sidewalk abruptly gave way beneath her — causing her to drop through the huge square hole. ... At least...

Florida emergency management officials were called to a large sinkhole in the same area where one opened three months ago. ... this latest sinkhole off Scott Lake Road and Aiden Lane is 50 feet wide and 12 feet deep on private property. ... The initial sinkhole in the area was reportedly 75 feet wide. It opened along Scott Lake Road, just south of Fitzgerald Road in southern Lakeland.

TAMPA – Officials in Hillsborough County reported that the sinkhole in Seffner, which gained national attention in 2013 after swallowing a man, reopened on Monday afternoon. This marks the third time the sinkhole has emerged. Jon-Paul Lavandeira, the Director of Hillsborough’s Code Enforcement Division, told ABC Action News there is currently no danger to individuals in the vicinity near the hole. County officials have informed nearby residents that they can safely remain in their homes. Lavandeira mentioned that the sinkhole measures approximately 12 feet by 12 feet, with no indications of overnight growth. The site is closed off to the...

The sinkhole is 630 feet (192 meters) deep, according to the Xinhua news agency, deep enough to just swallow St. Louis' Gateway Arch. A team of speleologists and spelunkers rappelled into the sinkhole on Friday (May 6), discovering that there are three cave entrances in the chasm, as well as ancient trees 131 feet (40 m) tall, stretching their branches toward the sunlight that filters through the sinkhole entrance. The discovery is no surprise, Veni told Live Science, because southern China is home to karst topography, a landscape prone to dramatic sinkholes and otherworldly caves. Karst landscapes are formed primarily...

Consequence of the extreme drought in Near Climax, Minnesota, a small crack in the ground has grown, causing a quarter-mile long stretch of bean field to fall 25 feet. Few have ever seen anything like it. It is still hard for Wayne Erickson to make sense of what happened on his farm. Simply put, a section of his black bean field fell two stories. “When I drove out here, it looked like the Grand Canyon. We didn’t have all that slumping going on, it was just straight down. Straight up and down,” Erickson said. Wayne and Erllene Erickson are the...

A project to reinforce the Millennium tower foundation came to a halt after it was found the building had sunk an inch San Francisco’s notorious sinking luxury high-rise is still sinking, even amid a $100m project designed to fix the issue. ...by 2014, it had sunk 18in and was leaning 14in to the west. The high-rise had initially opened to fanfare, with all 419 units quickly selling out and had high-profile residents such as the former San Francisco 49ers player Joe Montana, and the Giants outfielder Hunter Pence. Shortly after work began, however, the sinking and tilting accelerated; the building...

"Authorities are responding to Champlain Towers following a collapse of the 12-floor residential complex. There are reports of people screaming under the rubble. More to follow!"

The enormous sinkhole in Puebla State, southeastern Mexico, has grown to 110 m (360 feet) in diameter as of Monday, June 7, 2021, prompting authorities to widen the security perimeter. The hole has already destroyed a nearby house's bedroom and part of a wall and is threatening to swallow the entire structure as continues to expand. The sinkhole appeared in Santa María Zacatepec, in the town of Juan C. Bonilla, and is confirmed to be 9 m (30 feet) deep. It measured 80 m (262 feet) in diameter on May 29 and has grown rapidly ever since. As of Monday,...

A giant sinkhole measuring 80 m (262 feet) in diameter has opened up on a field in southern Mexico on Saturday, May 29, 2021. No damage or injuries were reported, but a nearby home is at risk of being swallowed as the gaping hole continues to expand rapidly each day. Scientists are considering several hypotheses as the possible causes, including variations in the soil's water content. The sinkhole appeared in the town of Juan C. Bonilla, Puebla State, in the southeastern region, according to state officials. It is estimated to be about 15 m (50 feet) deep. Authorities said there...

The crater just keeps getting bigger. The big sink hole in Pasco County just keeps growing, expanding and collapsing. The depression in New Port Richey, Florida continues to expand at a rapid rate, very unusual for geologists. The hole opened on Monday at a few-feet deep but has grown to 50 – 75 feet deep and more than 30 feet wide! “The speed of it opening and the speed of it still spreading, that makes it unusual,” said Emergency Management Director Andrew Fossa. Nearby, The Varsity Club has been evacuated and shut down. County crews erected a fence around the...

The sinkhole, located in the Piazza della Rotonda, is almost 10 square feet (1 square meter) big and just over 8 feet (2.5 m) deep. Inside the hole, archaeologists found seven ancient slabs made of travertine, a type of sedimentary rock. Luckily, no one was hurt when the sinkhole collapsed on the afternoon of April 27, because the normally crowded piazza was empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sinkholes like this one, however, are becoming an increasingly common problem in Rome. The stones uncovered by the sinkhole were created around the same time that the Pantheon was built, from 27...

PITTSBURGH - A Port Authority bus, with a passenger on board, was swallowed by a massive sinkhole Monday downtown. The bus fell into the giant sinkhole at 10th Street and Penn Avenue just before 8 a.m. The driver and a passenger were on board at the time, Port Authority officials said. The passenger was treated by paramedics, officials said. Witnesses tell Channel 11 the bus was at a red light when the street gave way and the bus fell into the hole.

According to state media, the sinkhole opened up around 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Dazhou, Sichuan province. Dramatic video from the scene showed people suddenly plunging through the pavement as it collapsed beneath them. Two victims died after being pulled from the pit and rushed to a hospital, state media said. They were reportedly married only days before. Efforts to rescue the other victims, a father and his young son, were unsuccessful, with the two found dead on Tuesday afternoon. … The presence of high-voltage power cables and water pipes made the rescue work especially difficult. "Given what we found in...

In May, Williamson County Engineer Terron Evertson said it will take at least 200 trucks of concrete to fill the cave. Tim Kelley, who lives near Cambira Cavern, told CBS Austin he is looking forward to the cave being filled in. His driveway access has been blocked for months, making mundane tasks like grocery shopping a hassle. Although the County says the caves do not pose a risk to homeowners nearby, Kelley said the unknown still makes him a bit uneasy. "Even if there is a 5% chance (the cave) goes under my house, that's still a big deal to...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - There was a plant and a cover-up Tuesday at the White House. The sinkhole steps from the briefing room on the North Lawn was filled in with concrete, the surrounding area covered with dirt and a fresh layer of sod. The sinkhole, which was first spotted a week ago Saturday following days of heavy rainfall, became a social media sensation, but the first family, staff, reporters and visitors to White House grounds were never in any immediate danger.

...The sinkhole, confirmed by groundskeepers, is just outside the office of White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley.