Natural disaster: Monster sinkhole destroys Oregon highway, causes closure

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HARBOR, OREGON — A growing sinkhole closed a coastal highway in Oregon late Thursday, Jan. 28.

Highway 101 was closed around 9 p.m. because a widening sinkhole was threatening all lanes, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. No injuries have been reported.

The DOT had set up a detour, re-routing traffic, which may be in place for at least a week.

A landslide, which occurred nearby, had broke a local water main. While unconfirmed, the landslide is being looked at as a contributing cause of the sinkhole.

The sinkhole is speculated to be tied to another neighboring sinkhole which developed in mid-December following torrential rains.

The December sinkhole opened in a restaurant parking lot next to the highway and kept growing reaching 50 feet in diameter with a depth of 50 to 70 feet. It began with an initial depth of seven feet and a width about the size of a volleyball.

In an attempt to repair the December sinkhole, road crews have been working to clear an underground drainage blockage that forced rainwater into nearby hills causing voids which create sinkholes.

While officials don’t yet have an estimate for the recent sinkhole, a DOT representative has said that it is the largest southwest Oregon has seen since 1996.

“It’s a monster for sure,” Jared Castle, Oregon DOT spokesman for southwest Oregon told The Washington Post. “This is a very unusual event and is a sinkhole of a magnitude that we don’t see but once every couple decades.”

The 1996 sinkhole swallowed two tractor-trailers and took them 50 feet below the road. No injuries were reported.

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