A sinkhole caused caused by tropical storm Agatha in Guatemala City on Sunday. Torrential rains brought by the first tropical storm of the 2010 season pounded Central America and southern Mexico, triggering deadly landslides.
Guatemala City sinkhole so big, so round it 'doesn't seem real'
From the air, the giant Guatemala City sinkhole appears so perfectly round and deep that photos of it almost look doctored.
Up close on the ground, “the only way to describe is to say it’s huge,” says David de Leon, the spokesman for the country’s disaster response agency, CONRED, who was reached by phone. “It doesn’t seem real.”
Rains from Tropical Storm Agatha opened the sinkhole in the residential zone 2 of downtown Guatemala City on Saturday night. CONRED estimates it is 100 feet deep and 65 feet across.
Geologists baffled by what to do with giant Guatemala sinkhole
Do you fill it? Will it get bigger? What caused it?
With smaller sinkholes often found in yards after rains, or as the result of digging, experts recommend dropping a concrete slab, gravel, or other solid material to the bottom of the hole, filling with clay-like soil, and finishing with topsoil. The material will usually settle, and it may be necessary to add more soil over time.
Guatemala City sinkhole so big, so round it 'doesn't seem real'
From the air, the giant Guatemala City sinkhole appears so perfectly round and deep that photos of it almost look doctored.
Up close on the ground, “the only way to describe is to say it’s huge,” says David de Leon, the spokesman for the country’s disaster response agency, CONRED, who was reached by phone. “It doesn’t seem real.”
Rains from Tropical Storm Agatha opened the sinkhole in the residential zone 2 of downtown Guatemala City on Saturday night. CONRED estimates it is 100 feet deep and 65 feet across.
Geologists baffled by what to do with giant Guatemala sinkhole
Do you fill it? Will it get bigger? What caused it?
With smaller sinkholes often found in yards after rains, or as the result of digging, experts recommend dropping a concrete slab, gravel, or other solid material to the bottom of the hole, filling with clay-like soil, and finishing with topsoil. The material will usually settle, and it may be necessary to add more soil over time.
