Teen girl trapped in 15-foot sinkhole after curb she was sitting on collapsed

Megan Johnson
Updated
The sinkhole (Photo: Twitter/Omaha Fire Dept.)
The sinkhole (Photo: Twitter/Omaha Fire Dept.)

A teenage girl in Nebraska was rescued from a massive 15-foot sinkhole after the concrete curb she was sitting on collapsed, plunging her down into the earth.

The girl told authorities she was sitting behind the Uta Halee administrative building when she felt the concrete begin to crack. As she stood up, the ground crumbled beneath her and she fell into the hole, trapping her underneath dirt and concrete, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

The Omaha Fire Department used a rope to remove the girl from the massive trench after they entered the hole and used airbags to remove the concrete from the girl's legs, the Herald added.

The victim suffered a broken arm and a head injury, Douglas County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tom Wheeler said. The incident is most likely related to heavy rainfall that made the ground more unstable.

The teenage girl’s harrowing story is the most recent in a string of sinkhole-related incidents. Another incident in Nebraska made headlines earlier this week when an 81-year-old man was trapped overnight in an erosion-created sinkhole on after he drove his Chevrolet Blazer into a hole, which was estimated to be between 15 and 20-feet deep, according to the Herald. The rescue was called a “miracle,” considering the remote, rural sinkhole was located near a cornfield on a dead-end road.

In Virginia, the grounds opened up and swallowed a car on Thursday evening, sending it some 20 feet down after a pipe carrying stream water burst in heavy rains.

Heavy rain is most likely the cause of the recent string of sinkholes, as rainfall gathers in previously untouched areas. Megan Taylor, a soils and water specialist with the University of Nebraska Extension Service, told the World-Herald. Heavy snowfall this winter and current flooding are most likely responsible.

“That really changes landscapes. And when you have extreme events, that’s when you’re going to see these sinkholes,” she said.

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