Sinkhole in Milwaukee

[Stephane Dumas]

Heavy rains created a sinkhole in Milwaukee and one Escalade falled into the hole
http://jalopnik.com/5594291/milwaukee-sinkhole-swallows-suv-traffic-light

[agentsteel53]

nice.  can we throw all Escalades and traffic signals into a hole?

[Stephane Dumas]

nice.  can we throw all Escalades and traffic signals into a hole?

Don't forget the Sequoia, the Armada for some company

[triplemultiplex]

This is actually in my hoodie.  We had record shattering rainfall yesterday and basically every flat surface turned into a lake.  It was exciting until the storm knocked out my cable & internet.  When I heard about the sinkhole on the radio, I strolled down there with my camera to see what I could see.

Can't even see the SUV and the traffic signal it swallowed.

Nearby, the Oak Leaf Trail, a former railroad r/w turned bike path (I call it a bike freeway since it's completely grade separated through my neighborhood) had been transformed into a canal.  This woman made it through.


I then made my way down to the Milwaukee River and it was the highest I have ever seen it.

This is the old North Avenue Dam. There were people hanging out on that pedestrian bridge watching the river sweep all kinds of debris downstream include huge tree trunks, some of which had branches snap off on the underside of the bridge.  I saw a picnic table, part of a dock and a bunch of soccer balls amongst the debris.  That standing wave was at least 5 ft high.  Today I learned the river peaked at about 16,000 cfs last night (normal for this time of year is ~150 cfs).
Here's a view downstream from North Ave. looking towards the dam.

I've never seen water past that row of trees in the middle of the photo before.

[mgk920]

Interesting, too, and something that Government Motors® might be interested in - that Escalade's driver didn't even have a chance to take the vehicle out of gear nor shut off its engine when that sinkhole opened up underneath it before getting out and as of this afternoon, reports on Milwaukee radio said that apparently it was still running and its powered wheels were still turning.



Mike

[Stephane Dumas]

Interesting, too, and something that Government Motors® might be interested in - that Escalade's driver didn't even have a chance to take the vehicle out of gear nor shut off its engine when that sinkhole opened up underneath it before getting out and as of this afternoon, reports on Milwaukee radio said that apparently it was still running and its powered wheels were still turning.



Mike

There was a couple of days earlier, another sinkhole in Florida who swallowed a Toyota Camry in a couple of minutes http://jalopnik.com/5584555/giant-florida-sinkhole-swallows-toyota-camry  Some think (including me  ) then it could be a bad omen of things to come at Toyota. 

I can imagine a future tv ad: "Even if you fall in a sinkhole, you have better chances of survival with the Escalade then a Camry" 

[golden eagle]

I saw the Escalade in the sinkhole. Wow!

On a lighter note, I have a friend who has family in Milwaukee (that's her hometown too) and she said her family is OK.

[hm insulators]

Wow!

Amazing pictures, triplemultiplex!