There's a sinkhole that just opened up in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington D.C. The opening is small now, but could get bigger.
Adams Morgan now has a sinkhole. twitter.com/willsommer/sta…
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) March 12, 2013
The hole is at the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW, according to a tweet by the Official Twitter Account for the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Engagement & Community Relations. They first warned the sinkhole could be huge, tweeting earlier today:
MPD reports Sink hole in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. The sink hole is described as 25 feet deep and expanding from east to west.
— EOMONE (@EOMONE1) March 12, 2013
Will Sommer of the Washington City Paper's City Desk has since reported that the hole is just four feet deep, and isn't expanding into the street.
D.C. residents received an alert that says "1900 block of biltmore street closed- please avoid," according to Gayatri Murthy. There are about four or five officers on the scene.
Initial reports of the hole being 25-feet deep are most likely inaccurate. If the cavern below the street had been large, it could have been a potential danger.
Sinkholes form when soft rocks below the ground get washed away by rain over a long period of time. A cavern forms under the top layer of soil, which eventually collapses. About 20 percent of the U.S. has sinkhole potential.
Here is an image:
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