March 1, 2013

"A man was missing early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom..."

"... of a house near Tampa and his brother says the man screamed for help...."
“When [the brother] got there, there was no bedroom left,” Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. “There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up.”

The brother called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother. An arriving deputy pulled the brother from the still-collapsing house....

“We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn’t see anything compatible with life,” Damico said. But Damico would not say that the man is presumed dead.

18 comments:

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

I blame Bush.

Icepick said...

I blame global warming.

Nonapod said...

That's pretty terrifying.

Do insurance companies charge more for homes built on on top of karst or flood plains?

YoungHegelian said...

"Baby, I never even so much as looked at that other girl, and if I'm lying may the earth open up & swallow me!"

BarrySanders20 said...

See what happens when we cut federal spending?

This tragedy is your fault. Yes, you.

David said...

Six comments and only one "the earth moved" joke?

bagoh20 said...

See? What good does it do to sit around worried about people jumping in a plane, or global warming, or anything really, when the Earth can just open up and swallow you without warning. Go enjoy yourself, take some risks. This only happens to people sitting in their homes being safe. It's a joke that God plays on people who are very very careful. Don't be God's joke, go have some fun. It's Fridayyyyyyy!

edutcher said...

His wife just wore a big smile and said, "Baby, do that again!".

PS I have heard of such things happening in earthquekes.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There's not much you can do if a sinkhole's got your name on it.

Hagar said...

I blame the sequester.

But you knew that was coming, didn't you?

William said...

Maybe it was an autoerotic sinkhole.

Dante said...

Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by,
For you may be the next one to die.
They wrap you up in a big white sheet
From your head down to your feet.
They put you in a big black box
And cover you up with dirt and rocks.
All goes well for about a week,
Then your coffin begins to leak.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle in your snout,
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
They eat the jelly between your toes.
A big green worm with rolling eyes
Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.
Your stomach turns a slimy green,
And pus pours out like whipping cream.
You'll spread it on a slice of bread,
And this is what you eat when you are dead.

Shanna said...

How awful! New things to get nightmares about.

We had a sinkhole happen recently (well after the ice/snow on christmas) by one of our walking paths at the river. Of course, the worst consequence is that nobody can get to the parking lot. Before that, the only time I really heard about a sinkhole was in Mexico, and that was a 200 ft deep pool with fish in it. I never thought about them appearing spontaneously.

John Burgess said...

Oh... over 3,000 sinkholes reported in FL over the past century.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/03/how_many_sinkhole_claims_are_f.html

Amartel said...

He went to sleep in his own bed. That's where he made his mistake.

Anonymous said...
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Jana said...

I read that and just thought it was very, very sad.

Methadras said...

What a downer. He got the shaft.