Amazing Pictures - 180 Foot Deep Sinkhole Appears in Guatemala City - Tropical Storm Agatha Devastation
Tropical Storm Agatha Left a Huge 60 Metre Deep Sinkhole in Guatemala City
The sinkhole opened and apparently swallowed a 3-storey building, killing one man. Reports are still emerging of this epic event, after the storm hit Central America on 31st May 2010.
More than 100 people have been reported dead as this terrific storm punished Honduras and Guatemala, with at least 50 people missing in Guatemala as rescue workers search through the debris left behind by the storm.
Residents in Guatemala City are blaming the heavy rain and poor drainage systems for the sinkhole, which is not the first in this area. Three people lost their lives in 2007 when a similar sinkhole appeared in 2007.
Reports are beginning to come in from more rural areas of Guatemala, where mudslides have buried dozens of rural Mayan Indian communities, and the death toll is likely to rise.
According to the Daily Telegraph in the UK, more than 36 inches of rain fell in parts of the country, and in places houses were literally swept away by raging waters or buried by landslides.
Six military aircraft have been sent by the USA from base in neighboring Honduras to help ferry aid and supplies, and also to evacuate people from remote areas of the country.
They were unable to land at the main La Aurora airport in Guatemala City, as this was already closed a week ago having been showered with volcanic ash from the nearby Pacaya volcano.
It really does look like an apocalyptic event, with yet an other volcanic eruption, that did not reach the world news, just one of many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the last year, a trend that is disturbing.
Author's Note:
Having been to Guatemala City five times, I am well aware of the nature of this impoverished and yet beautiful country.
Guatemala City is built on a series of plateaux, with steep ravines below, and has grown in size immensely over the last 20 years. Since many of the older parts of the city are poor, and little better than shanty towns, it's not surprising that poor drainage has resulted in a natural disaster like this.
The main airport is the only one that I have landed at, where the runway has a huge dip halfway along it. It's frequently possible for an aircraft to land and then take off again briefly as the runway dips.
The impressive volcano of Pacaya sits outside the old Spanish colonial city of Antigua, and is often seen smoking. The area is known for earthquakes, and the city of Antigua was much destroyed in 1717 by what is estimated to have been a 7.4 earthquake.
Much of the country is covered in volcanoes, steep hillsides and valleys, and as well as the very colorful Mayan people, the hillsides are often terraced with crops growing on every available bit of land.
Sources:
Published by Tony Payne
Tony Payne is a freelance writer who lives on the South Coast of England with his wife Debbie. He has worked in the IT Industry all his life, and has been writing on various sites for the last 10 years. T... View profile
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31 Comments
Post a CommentHoly you-know-what! That hole is incredible!
I kept thinking the pictures were fake or Photoshopped. They just don't look like they could be real - I mean, how can a hole like that just open up? Where does it go? How deep is it? What will the people do about it? It's really scary.
Excellent report, Tony. That is indeed quite a sinkhole!
The photos of this were incredible. Very scary.
Some of the older suburbs in the city are very poor, and the infrastructure is obviously in need of improvement. The more modern parts of the city are much nicer, but it's expanding over there like crazy.
Have been to Guatamala City also - about 20 yrs ago. We landed at the main airport and caught an island hopper to get to Belize - was never sure why we had to take that route. Seems silly today looking at a map. Of course, Belize was not the tourist trap back then that it is today. We barely had electricity at the small hut-like hotel. At any rate, this is just... damn.
"Residents in Guatemala City are blaming the heavy rain and poor drainage systems for the sinkhole" It appears that the drainage system just got a lot better.
Holy crap! That is so scary!
I heard about this on the news today. I was shocked. That's a really really big sink hole.
It's scary to live in a place like that. That sinkhole is incredible.