Missing Man Sucked Into Florida Sinkhole!

[Nickdfresh]

(CNN) -- The ground just swallowed him up.
<object width="416" height="234" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ep_1759"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=deskto p&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/01/fl-sinkhole-sot-vo.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/01/fl-sinkhole-sot-vo.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=deskto p&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/01/fl-sinkhole-sot-vo.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/01/fl-sinkhole-sot-vo.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="234"></embed></object>


A Florida man lying in bed fell into a sinkhole that opened suddenly beneath the bedroom of his suburban Tampa home, calling out to his brother for help as he fell, a fire department spokeswoman said Friday.

Five other people, including a 2-year-old child, escaped from the home. Rescuers had to pull the man's brother away from the edge of the sinkhole as it ate away at the ground under the home, according to Jessica Damico, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Fire Department.

The man was presumed dead, she said, after monitoring equipment lowered by engineers detected no signs of life.

But rescuers can't go into the hole to check -- it's too dangerous. Authorities say they worry the hole is still spreading and the house could collapse at any time.

Authorities evacuated nearby homes as well -- in case the hole keeps growing, she said.

The sinkhole is naturally ocurring and appears to be about 100 feet across, based on estimates made by engineers using radar, and it may be as deep as 50 feet, authorities say. It's not visible except inside the home.
Florida man swallowed by giant sinkhole

Rescue crews were waiting Friday morning for engineers with more sophisticated equipment to examine the sinkhole.

Sinkholes are common in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The state lies on bedrock made of limestone or other carbonate rock that can be eaten away by acidic groundwater, forming voids that collapse when the rock can no longer support the weight of what's above it.

[DLR Bridge]

Wow. Not the way I want to go out.

[Zing!]

I want to go out like Graham Chapman did in Python's "Meaning of Life."

[Eyes of the Night]

That whole sinkhole thing?


Trippy! ...

[Matt White]

Terrible....if my Bro went "down in a hole" I'd be in there right now trying to dig him out

so sad

[FORD]

[ELVIS]

Terrible....if my Bro went "down in a hole" I'd be in there right now trying to dig him out

so sad

There's a parable...

[ashstralia]

There's a parable...

what, if your brother gets swallowed up by a swamphole you should try to help him?

well, DUH!!!

[Matt White]

There's a parable...

you might think!!!

[BITEYOASS]

Man! That news story is straight out of "Paint Your Wagon"! The scene which involves the preacher falling into the ground during the bull and bear fight.

[Nitro Express]

Ok. The floor just gave way and the rest of the house is still standing? The floor joists are resting on the foundation. The foundation would have to go into the hole to take the floor with it. Very strange. At least the part of the house with the bedroom should have fallen into the hole.

[ashstralia]

Prof Higgins, you know as well as i do that only a small % of the world's housing is on solid footing. and of and upon that, the artisans, the experts, the true master craftsmen get to weave their majick.

asked my bro today, 'how old is that church'? he said 'dunno.. 1946?'

i walk past it every day, have read the plaque. 1911. that made him turn around and have a better look.

[FORD]

Prof Higgins, you know as well as i do that only a small % of the world's housing is on solid footing. and of and upon that, the artisans, the experts, the true master craftsmen get to weave their majick.

asked my bro today, 'how old is that church'? he said 'dunno.. 1946?'

i walk past it every day, have read the plaque. 1911. that made him turn around and have a better look.

Well, the master craftsmen must have done their job around here.....

I live in a neighborhood that has a lot of really old houses, many of them built in the latter part of the 19th century. And we do get serious earthquakes around here every few decades or so, the most recent one being a 6.8 in early 2001. As far as I know, none of the houses around here took any serious hits from the quake, aside from a few chimneys, most of which were the type that are outside the house from the fireplace all the way up, as opposed to a short stack of bricks on the roof. My own place had a few interior cracks in the plaster, but that's about it.

Not bad considering they didn't even attempt to build for earthquake resistance back then. But as far as sink hole resistance, damned if I know how you would even build for that. And actually, the idea has crossed my mind since some mysterious cracks appeared in the street in front of my house recently. But the city was doing some maintenance nearby, so if they were digging around underground, they probably would have noticed a sinkhole nearby. Or at least one would fucking hope so.....

[Nitro Express]

Those old houses by you must be on bedrock. Also a wood framed home stands up to an earthquake better than a masonry one does. That's why the chimneys fail. The best earthquake proof way to build is to have the footings of the home sitting right on the bedrock itself and then have a wood framed home. Wood will flex and has some torsional flexibility. If framed right it usually holds up fine. Where you have problems is when the footings are on sediment that liquifies in a quake.

[Nickdfresh]

Ok. The floor just gave way and the rest of the house is still standing? The floor joists are resting on the foundation. The foundation would have to go into the hole to take the floor with it. Very strange. At least the part of the house with the bedroom should have fallen into the hole.

Most of the bedroom did fall in, including most of the furniture and bed.


Right now they're demolishing the the house with heavy equipment. The have to use an extended boon on the excavator/mechanical digger to keep their distance because the ground around the home is so unstable...