I-24 Sinkhole And Canada Sinkhole Wreak Havoc

If you plan on taking the I-24 in Tennessee, your plants might not work considering the sinkhole. A deep sinkhole opened up between Chattanooga and Nashville, and shut down a 13-mile stretch of the heavily traveled road. As a sinkhole opened up last week in Canada, a family was killed in their basement. So what is the deal with all of these sinkholes?

Resource for this article: Sinkholes wreak havoc - I-24 Sinkhole and Canada sinkhole

I-24 sinkhole stops Tennessee traffic

The Tennessee Department of Transportation reported today the I-24 sinkhole opened up Tuesday morning. A tractor-trailer barely missed the sinkhole after it opened up, and nobody was injured or had to take out new car loans as a result of the sinkhole. The sinkhole is 40 feet long and 25 feet deep, and will take $ 266,960 to fix as authority hopes repairs will be completed by May 22. A private contractor took it upon him to have the contract. Between mile marker 127 and exit 127 is where the sinkhole is located. Eastbound lanes are close although westbound lanes are not.

Family of four killed in Canadian sinkhole

On the northern side of the continent, a sinkhole that recently opened up in Canada killed a family of four. Just outside Montreal, a sinkhole appeared under a number of homes, and one family who was in their basement at the time was encased in the sloshing mud. The homes were evacuated and now the Canadian government is treating the area as a disaster rehabilitation area.

What is a sinkhole, anyway?

You will find usually numerous different causes for a sinkhole to open up. Typically it has something to do with water seeping in from above bedrock or running below. The areas weight becomes too much as the water dissolves the rock. At this point, a sudden sinkhole appears. Sub-surface waterways, sewer piping and abandoned mines are some of probably the most common causes of sinkholes. Sinkholes can be difficult to predict, though Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri and Pennsylvania tend to have the most sinkholes among U.S. states.