Guatemala Sinkhole - Another Tragedy for Guatemala City

Tropical storm Agatha brought torrential rains into Central America and is thought to have been the straw that broke the camels back when a gigantic sinkhole opened up in the northern district of Guatemala City, Guatemala. Residents blame the rain and substandard drainage systems while scientists say that it has likely been weeks or years in the making and the floodwater's caused it to finally collapse.

The sinkhole formed at a street intersection and spread beneath a 3 story clothing factory that fell into the hole when it opened up. Luckily no one was killed or injured as workers had left the building an hour before it happened. The humongous sinkhole is estimated to be 66 feet wide and 100 feet deep.

When Agatha struck on Saturday in El Salvador, Honduras and hit the hardest in Guatemala, at least 150 people were killed and there are at least 90 reported missing. Thousands are homeless due to the landslides and flooding which reported three feet of rain in some areas. Over 110,000 people have been evacuated in Guatemala.

In 2007 Guatemala had a 100 foot deep sinkhole open up about 3 miles from where this one was. More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the area and 3 people were killed.

Most of the time sinkholes are found in areas where the bedrock is limestone or any other type of rock that can be dissolved by ground water. Huge cavities are formed as the rock dissolves and when nothing is left to support the land surface it will finally collapse and form a sinkhole.

The Guatemalan sinkhole is an almost perfect circle and it is so huge that the Internet was buzzing with reports that the photos had been photoshopped or tampered with in some way. The sad fact is that they haven't been and the sinkhole is very real.

NationalGeographic.com
TheAssociatedPress.com