Rains cause another Hickory sinkhole

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

Rain that has pounded Hickory for three days caused another sinkhole to open Wednesday afternoon.

The Hickory Fire Department was responding to a call at a southwest Hickory business on U.S. 70 when they noticed the sinkhole in the parking lot of a neighboring building, said Capt. Farrell Duplain.

The hole was already at least 10 feet wide, Duplain said, and the pavement was giving away around the tire of a car parked in the lot.

The owner of the building, Duplain said, was in the parking lot and had called a tow truck to pull the car away from the sinkhole before it was swallowed.

Within hours, Duplain said, the hole had grown to at least 15 feet in diameter and was surrounded by another 5 feet of loose pavement that looked unstable and ready to collapse, he said.

He was not sure how far into the earth the hole went but said it was several feet deep. He recommended the building owner contact an irrigation or plumping company to pump water out of the hole.

"I told him it was not safe to put anyone near the edge of it at all," Duplain said.

Rain began falling in Hickory Monday evening and was expected to fall through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Hickory gained national attention in 2002 when two huge sinkholes, about a mile from the hole discovered Wednesday, opened up in restaurant parking lot and swallowed a new Corvette. Three other sinkholes in the Catawba Valley opened in 2005.

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