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Pennsylvania sinkhole: A sinkhole opened up in the driveway of a Pennsylvania home over the weekend.
A Pennsylvania woman’s home was evacuated after a sinkhole opened up in her driveway, just more than a week after a sinkhole destroyed a Florida home and killed a man.
Doris Jenkins of Bethlehem Township told NBC News that she went out to walk her dog on Sunday morning before she noticed that her driveway collapsed into a hole that grew as large as 40 feet wide.
“I came around the corner and said, ‘oh my God!’” Jenkins told the station. “My daughter’s car was there. I woke her up and told her to get the car out of there!”
“I wasn’t thinking that this was how I was going to be spend my Sunday afternoon,” Inga Jenkins, her daughter, told NBC. Doris, Inga, and granddaughter Claudia Jenkins were able to escape without injury.
On Monday, engineers determined that the sinkhole did not compromise the home’s structure, meaning it is safe for the family to live there. Crews said it will take them around two weeks to fix the hole.
“It’s pretty upsetting to see your whole driveway fall into a hole,” Inga Jenkins added, according to MyFoxPhilly.com.
Officials in Bethlehem Township said a decades-old sewer line burst last week, but it was unclear if that was caused by the sinkhole.
“We have geotechnical engineer that is going to analyze the entire area tomorrow (Monday). He will let us know exactly what needs to be done,” Steve Hunsberger, Director of Physical Plant of Bethlehem Township, told Fox.
Neighbor Courtney Smith told the station that her family watched the sinkhole intently. “Everybody in the house has bags ready to go,” Smith said.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said that along with caves, sinkholes “are a definitive part of Pennsylvania’s landscape,” according to its website.
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