Watch as a huge sinkhole swallows the middle of a soccer field
Security footage captured the moment a large sinkhole opened in the middle of a soccer field in Illinois
A frightening scene unfolded in an Illinois park this week as a large sinkhole opened up in the middle of a soccer field, swallowing a light pole and several benches in mere seconds.
Surveillance video captured the incident when it occurred during the mid-morning hours on Wednesday, June 26, at Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois. The town is located on the banks of the Mississippi River about 30 km north of the city of St. Louis.
LEARN MORE: The science of sinkholes. How do they form and why?
Nobody was injured when the sinkhole developed, local media reported after the incident.
Officials said that the sinkhole resulted from ground subsidence above a mine shaft operated by a quarry about one kilometre west of the city park.
“The impacted area has been secured and will remain off limits for the foreseeable future while inspectors and experts examine the mine and conduct repairs,” a spokesperson for the mining company told the Alton Telegraph on Wednesday.
Sinkholes are relatively rare, but they can occur when the right conditions are present to erode the underlying soils and bedrock.
Depletion of groundwater can also lead to the formation of sinkholes. Experts recently found that vast swaths of the U.S. East Coast are subsiding as a result of groundwater depletion throughout the region.
Header image courtesy of Reuters. Article contains files from the Alton Telegraph.
