Illinois golfer plunges down sinkhole on the 14th

Illinois golfer plunges down sinkhole on the 14th
BBC News

An Illinois man has survived an 18ft (5.4m) fall inside a sinkhole while he was golfing, two weeks after another sinkhole swallowed a person in Florida.

Mark Mihal, 43, was investigating an unusual depression when the earth gave way on the 14th hole of the fairway in Waterloo, Illinois.

Friends managed to bring the mortgage broker to safety with a rope, and he escaped with only a sore shoulder.

Mr Mihal said he felt lucky to survive the "absolutely crazy" accident.

"It didn't look unstable,'' Mr Mihal said of the slump in the ground, which exposed a 10ft-wide sinkhole once he stood on it. "And then I was gone.

"I was just freefalling. It felt like forever, but it was just a second or two, and I didn't know what I was going to hit. And all I saw was darkness.''

Such holes are common in south-western Illinois, where old underground mines frequently cause the earth to cave in.

According to Sam Panno, a senior geochemist with the Illinois State Geological Survey, there are as many as 15,000 sinkholes in the region.

Florida man Jeffrey Bush, 36, is presumed dead after a sinkhole swallowed his bedroom near Tampa this month.

We have a sinkhole situation here. Apparently is was caused by mining for salt.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/eyewitness/morereports/mysteryintheswamp-193139431.html

People are angry now, but they were happy for the jobs. Fickle is as fickle does.

Sure it is easy to point the finger at Texas Brine, and I feel they should be held somewhat accountable, but just how can we foresee future problems??? Unlike diverting massive amounts of water to LA, things like this aren't so cut and dry. You have to be fair to the people affected, but you also have to be fair to the company. At least they tried to alleviate the problem before it started.

Sinkhole in one. Now theres a proper title for this thread

Maybe he shouldve widened his stance more

Stop it

I shouldnt joke abt sinkholes, i do live in florida...

I remember my grandmother from Florida talking about sinkholes back in the 60s. As a little kid I was horrified to think of people's whole houses just disappearing. So this is really nothing new (just rarely reported) although the story about the man on the gof course is weird.

I didnt know, however, that there were sinkholes in Illinois. (Just like I didnt know there were cougars in West Alabama...until I came face to face with one).

Gotta figure if there are panthers in florida, theyre bound to be in alabama. I saw a bobcat the size of a panther in alabama before.

We have a few Florida panthers here, but they are hardly ever seen. What disturbs me is the increase in jaguarundi seen down here. They have migrated up from Mexico, through Texas (like fire ants, armadillos, and white wing doves). They aren't very big. Average size is about as large as a bobcat, but they are tree cats. Some wildlife experts say our wood duck population could take a strong hit if these things keep coming.

I heard of jaguars making the journey into the southwest us but the jaguarundi

Damn illegals!

Ps. The fireant came from mobile bay, ur thinking of africanized killer bees

They came on ships from South America though. I just binged it to learn more. I guess that is why they aren't found out west. They haven't made it that far yet. Those red ants in Cali sure do look ferocious, but the bites/stings don't hurt much and they don't get infected like many fire ant bites/stings. From what I understand is that the pain and infection comes from a chemical they spray onto you from the abdomen.....gotta check that for accuracy.

I think some type of acid

Marconius wrote:They came on ships from South America though. I just binged it to learn more. I guess that is why they aren't found out west. They haven't made it that far yet. Those red ants in Cali sure do look ferocious, but the bites/stings don't hurt much and they don't get infected like many fire ant bites/stings. From what I understand is that the pain and infection comes from a chemical they spray onto you from the abdomen.....gotta check that for accuracy.

The red ants he have in the mountains out here arent bad. They tend to keep to them selves and stay out of the house (unlike those stupid small black ants). The only time I had any real problems with the red ants was when the mower crapped out on top of one of their nests, and even at that I only got bit a couple times. That said, the avenues they chew through the grass can be impressive.



We also have these guys up in the higher elevations (haven't seen them below 5000 ft elv). They're called carpenter ants and are huge. They live off eating rotting wood. While their size is impressive, they seldom bite and when they do it doesn't really hurt (I've been bit once by one that made the mistake of crawling into my sandal). That said, they're hard to kill (Raid only seems to get them high).

Wow, is impressive how far this went off the original topic... :-P

Thanks

we try really, really hard

Bryant wrote:

Marconius wrote:They came on ships from South America though. I just binged it to learn more. I guess that is why they aren't found out west. They haven't made it that far yet. Those red ants in Cali sure do look ferocious, but the bites/stings don't hurt much and they don't get infected like many fire ant bites/stings. From what I understand is that the pain and infection comes from a chemical they spray onto you from the abdomen.....gotta check that for accuracy.

The red ants he have in the mountains out here arent bad. They tend to keep to them selves and stay out of the house (unlike those stupid small black ants). The only time I had any real problems with the red ants was when the mower crapped out on top of one of their nests, and even at that I only got bit a couple times. That said, the avenues they chew through the grass can be impressive.

We also have these guys up in the higher elevations (haven't seen them below 5000 ft elv). They're called carpenter ants and are huge. They live off eating rotting wood. While their size is impressive, they seldom bite and when they do it doesn't really hurt (I've been bit once by one that made the mistake of crawling into my sandal). That said, they're hard to kill (Raid only seems to get them high).

We have a type of carpenter ant here. Big, black things that live in trees. Not aggressive at all.

We also have these things down here.
Velvet ant


Locals call them cow killers 'cause if they do sting you, it feels like it could kill a cow. Luckily they aren't that aggressive. They really aren't ants though. They are actually a wingless wasp. I swear you can step on them a dozen times and they will still walk away.

Marconius wrote:
Locals call them cow killers 'cause if they do sting you, it feels like it could kill a cow. Luckily they aren't that aggressive. They really aren't ants though. They are actually a wingless wasp. I swear you can step on them a dozen times and they will still walk away.

Sounds like you should maybe not try stepping on them so.....

We have those too. Call em cow ants. Actually wingless wasps and they make a weird whining sound if trapped

Miles1 wrote:

Marconius wrote:
Locals call them cow killers 'cause if they do sting you, it feels like it could kill a cow. Luckily they aren't that aggressive. They really aren't ants though. They are actually a wingless wasp. I swear you can step on them a dozen times and they will still walk away.

Sounds like you should maybe not try stepping on them so.....

I got shoes on. Not all of us southerners still walk around barefoot ya'know