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Subscribe to RSSHouston-area residents have to wonder if they'll be next after a teen who was standing on a street corner was swallowed by a sinkhole that opened suddenly when an underground water main burst.
Giovanni Long, 16, told khou.com that he fell several feet and was under water for about 15 seconds as he tried to claw his way out of a hole 6 feet deep and 10 feet wide as he was walking in Kleinwood, a suburb northwest of downtown Houston.
"Everything beneath me crumbled," he told the website after the Monday afternoon incident. "I didn't know what to do."
"I was trying to dig my way out of the hole, but the ground kept breaking back into me," added Long, who finally got out with a few scratches on his back and a sprained ankle. "It's funny now that I think about it ... but when it happened, it was actually scary."
Why the 12-inch water line broke wasn't determined, but it's possible that recent rain after months of drought caused the ground to shift.
The drought itself caused daily water main breaks across Houston. Msnbc.com reported during the height of the drought last summer about some 700 daily reports coming in.
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Who would name their daughter "Sinkhole"?
Thanks a lot...I just frickin' spit pop all over my keyboard cuz of that comment! :)
HA!
I got swallowed on a street corner once. But that was in Tijuana.
And if she was standing on the streetcorner, how tall was the teen she swallowed? Damn! Or perhaps she's a "little person"?
Ya'll aint' right. *chuckle*
Way too funny!
OMG! took me a minute but damn....that was funny!
She has a sister named "Blackhole", you just visited there for a moment. Understandable.
The same ones that named their son Adolph Hitler?
quick, blame some political party, its wide open, be the first to place the blame.
Bush's fault..has to be..he's in Texas right?
Ever notice that the political blame games usually start around the 5th post of every non-political story?
10th post LOL
At least he is OK. A sinkhole swallowed up several cars, one with a driver in it, in a motel parking lot in Atlanta years ago. The driver never made it as the car fell into a crack in a 20-foot drainage pipe and got washed away.
Watch out people, Perry Winkie will take credit for the rain . . . not the sink hole, he'll blame someone else for that. (couldn't resist that one.)
well that kid wont have to work for a while. he and some bored lawyer will collect tons and the taxpayers who probably already paid to have those mains updated once will get to foot the bill twice plus the lawsuit.. good job politicians, give yourselves another hand.
It's Bush's fault.....no it's Obama's fault.......no it's Pelosi's fault......no it's Boehner's fault.........awwwww heck with it - it's GOD's fault LOL
the illegals did it.
So glad the kid is ok, sounds like a terrifying ordeal.
If you get swallowed by ol "Sinkhole" on the street corner, and you wind up nearly drowning; are you really going to tell anyone about it?
"It's funny now that I think about it."
Bull $h1+, he probably soiled his pants!
New meaning to....."your going to hell"!
This does sound like a reverse rapture, doesn't it?
Sinkholes suck.
It's hilarious from here, but I would imagine quite terrifying up close and personal.
they do have some good swallowers in tijuana (been to a few corners).
Prostitution in Houston does have it's draw backs, DON'T IT! Ok, honey, it was just a joke - Quit Hittin Me On the Back of my Head! Oooouuuuccccchhhh! Damn woman ain't got no sence of humor at ALL! {:-)}
More proof that god hates Texans.
Reminds me of the time my entire city block I lived on began sinking from one end to another as a water line under the street began leaking and after months the street began collapsing in one spot after another until some sinkholes were more than 20' feet deep and for a 10 year old that's scary to think of walking on such a solid FLAT surface and then being buried alive. It was amazing the holes all showed up almost at the same time and by then end of 24 hours there was over 30 big 6'x6'x6' holes along the full length of the street. I wish I had a camera back then buy in the 50's our family was too poor to own one. Several cars did sink into the holes as people who though they were safe would pull into their driveways and when they backed out the next day oops down they went. It took months for the city to fix things. Luckily no one was hurt.
And to think our entire infrastructure is like this today---on the verge of collapse and rates an 'F'.