Sinkhole

I feel sorry for that Florida man who was in bed when suddenly the ground under his bedroom opened up and swallowed him. Just like that, he and his bedroom furniture were gone – swallowed by the earth. He is now missing. No body has been recovered so the authorities can’t say with certainty that he’s dead, but it would be a miracle if he’s not. And if he is dead, then what a ghastly way to die.

Florida is notorious for sinkholes. The ground in Florida is pretty much like Swiss cheese. Add to that lots of groundwater and underground streams. There have been so many sinkholes in the state that people have made sinkhole maps of Florida’s counties. You can see an index of sinkhole maps at this page.

In parts of Virginia there are lots of limestone caverns. There are few sinkholes, however, probably because the ground is not saturated with water. Some Virginia caverns are famous. Luray Caverns is a U.S. Natural Landmark that has attracted millions of visitors since its discovery in 1878. I’ve tromped through it a couple of times and can assure you that it’s an impressive place.

One day I was walking through a newly-built neighborhood in southwestern Virginia, and I happened to walk across an empty lot that was being prepared for a new house. Bulldozers had scraped away much of the topsoil and left behind bare earth. In the middle of this empty lot I chanced upon a small hole in the ground. I picked up a pebble and dropped it into the hole. A few seconds passed and then I heard a splash. I mentally pictured what must be beneath me. There was was a void in the earth beneath my feet; a limestone cavern, perhaps, and at the bottom of that void was water – a flowing stream or still lake. It made me uneasy and I walked away. The next time I walked through that neighborhood, a new house stood on the ground where I had dropped my pebble into the earth and heard a splash. I wondered if the people living in that house would sleep as easily in their beds at night if they knew that their house was built atop a void in the earth – a void that could possibly swallow their house on some random future day.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from all this, it is this: attention Floridians – your state is not safe; get out while you can! I hear Georgia is nice.