Mississippi: Restaurant parking lot cave-in swallows 12 cars

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — A cave-in of a restaurant parking lot in Mississippi swallowed 12 cars and now experts are expected to begin work Monday to determine the cause of the weekend collapse, authorities said.

No one was reported injured when the pavement gave way Saturday night, leaving a long gash in the ground into which the vehicles tumbled.

Meridian Public Safety Director Buck Roberts told The Meridian Star (http://bit.ly/1kDvuui ) that the collapse was not the result of a sinkhole, which is generally caused when an underground water aquifer dries and leaves a void in the ground.

"You can call it what you want, a cave-in or whatever, but it is not a sinkhole," Roberts said.

FULL story at link.


This photo shows vehicles after a cave-in of a parking lot in Meridian, Miss., Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. Experts are to begin work Monday seeking to determine the cause of the Saturday collapse, authorities said. (Michael Stewart/The Meridian Star via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/821a3341ab664b06a41343ff3280be1a/mississippi-restaurant-parking-lot-cave-swallows-12-cars

[MrWendel]

1. On second thought....

if someone is brave enough to put that car in neutral and have it towed out then the car still might be okay.

[kimbutgar]

2. So it is true Mississippi is turning into a hell hole.

[Enrique]

3. mayhem is everywhere

[BlueJazz]

4. Restaurant Server: Do you drive a new Mercedes? Customer: Why Yes. Server: No you don't.

[petronius]

14. ...

I hope you're not in a job that requires you to gently break bad news to people...

[LiberalArkie]

5. Someone did not compact the fill dirt very well. The hole follows the conduit for the lights

and probably other utilities.

[Nay]

9. Yes, it looks that way, plus isn't that a drain path for rainwater in the foreground

of the picture? Your loosely packed fill dirt plus water equals a mushy mess.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It's a Message From God that he didn't want the new IHOP there

Officials in Meridian said it will likely be Monday before they can determine what caused a section of parking lot about 35 feet wide and 400 feet long to collapse and swallow 12 cars outside an IHOP restaurant that had opened earlier in the week.
...
Heavy rains that dumped up to 10 inches in the area over the past two weeks may have been a contributing factor, an official on scene said. It was raining most of the day Saturday prior to the collapse.
The area that caved in follows the path of an underground storm drain that dumps into nearby Sowashee Creek. A metal pipe that funnels storm water runoff into the creek had buckled where the drain funnels the rainwater into the creek.
...
The area was the site of recent construction. The IHOP, which crews have been working on for months, opened only last week. Work is also underway adjacent the restaurant to construct a new hotel.

http://www.meridianstar.com/news/local_news/update-engineers-to-try-and-determine-cause-of-sinkhole/article_5d421e30-863b-11e5-8faf-abe58686b315.html

[WestSeattle2]

13. You know that is what the fundies would be saying if it was a gay bar there instead of an IHOP

[underpants]

23. Foreigners

It is the INTERNATIONAL House of Oancakes you know

[longship]

7. Come on people, we need more raspberry syrup on table 7!!

[bluedigger]

8. I don't think some of you are treating this with the gravity it deserves.

[underpants]

21. Oooh

[MisterP]

10. honsetly, this is a very disappointing start to the Apocalypse

[truthisfreedom]

11. Onsetly?

[underpants]

22. :-)

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Rapture gone wrong.

[C Moon]

12. That's horrible!!

[McCamy Taylor]

15. There is a drain next to the fallen area. Could there have been an underground stream

from the drain slowly taking away the dirt from under the asphalt until it finally collapsed under the weight of the cars?

Maybe we need our wetlands after all.

[NBachers]

16. Geology, people, geology engineering . . .

[Judi Lynn]

17. What a nightmare. Hope to hear more about this in days ahead. Thank you. n/t

[Sunlei]

18. guess the parking lot builder company will change their name soon.

[marble falls]

19. Can't decide which is worse: losing my car in the lot or eating at IHOP.....

Tragedy in Missouri: The house trailer's under water at the bank and the cars underground at the IHOP.

[Rozlee]

20. This from a person that doesn't know what causes a sinkhole.

But, I do know that Mississippi is one of the ten states with the worst infrastructure. Don't know if that contributes to it in any way, but just wanted to get on my soapbox and crab about the lousy state of our infrastructure, whether it pertains to this article or not.