[...]
A sinkhole, measuring about 50 feet long and eight feet deep, had swallowed [Harrisburg-resident] Ms. [Sherri] Lewis’s street, damaging water and gas pipes and forcing more than a dozen residents to evacuate one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. “I thought the world was ending,” says Ms. Lewis, 42 years old.
Harrisburg officials have identified at least 40 other sinkholes around the 50,000-person city. The combination of particularly sandy soil and leaky pipes under Harrisburg’s streets make it susceptible to sinkholes, city officials say. But Harrisburg has a bigger problem: The Pennsylvania capital can’t afford to replace many of the aging pipes, some of which date back to the 19th century.
Harrisburg is in default on its debt and has been effectively shut out of the municipal-debt market, which cities and states use to finance everything from building schools to paving roads.
[...]
Planet Earth Begins Eating Bankrupt City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
CharlesWT
This explains why my wife and I live on a place called Allison Hill, even though it is probably Ground Zero for homicides and drugs. Namely, it’s way above the flood levels of the river, and we don’t have sinkholes.
We do have potholes, though, and on first glance one could be forgiven for mistaking some of them for sinkholes.
Concerning the article: Reed hasn’t been mayor for four years, now. (He was a Democrat, of course, as was his replacement.) The new mayor is a black woman – two characteristics I mention because they are her only qualifications for office and the reason she is in the mayor’s office. She was a member of City Council for quite a few years while Reed was mayor, and did little or nothing about any of the problems mentioned. She is totally useless.
The article also failed to mention that when Reed became mayor, the city was a dump. No one EVER went downtown after the state offices closed. It is now thriving. Reed did a lot of good for the city, but was in office too long and began to let things go. An excellent, indeed a prime example of why term limits is a good idea at all levels of government power.
Florida has a lot of sinkholes, in fact some quite near my home. So I pay about $200/yr extra for sinkhole coverage, which gets me a $37,300 deductible. The deductible for hurricanes is $7,460.
The strawberry farmers pump a lot of water to glaze their crop during cold snaps.
Fortunately we had good rain over the summer so the aquifer is recharging.
The rising aquifer keeps the limestone from collapsing and creating our sinkholes.
Sinkhole possibly claims a life:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/301357/250/Cops-Home-collapses-in-sinkhole-1-trapped-presumed-dead
The location of this sinkhole is a few miles east of my home!