MoDOT investigating after large sinkhole forms near 291 Highway in Independence
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A large sinkhole recently formed on a utility road steps from Highway 291 and north of Truman Road in Independence.
The Missouri Department of Transportation was made aware of the situation last week.
MoDOT doesn’t own or maintain the road where the sinkhole formed as it is privately owned.
In a statement to FOX4, Melissa Black, the communications manager for MoDOT’s Kansas City District, said, “MoDOT staff recently were made aware of a sinkhole that occurred on private property adjacent to Highway 291 in Jackson County. We are currently monitoring the situation and assessing it daily to see if any state right of way is affected. We will inform the public if a determination is made to close lanes for safety reasons.”
Several tornado warnings issued in Kansas City metro Monday night: storm damage
Sinkholes occur naturally, especially where there is abundant rainfall and the rock beneath the surface soil is limestone.
In the last two weeks, KCI has recorded over six inches of rain, the third-most rainfall during that same time period in Kansas City weather history.
Those storms have caused damage in areas across the Kansas City metro.
“The wind was just ridiculous. I can’t tell you the miles on it, but I believe it had to be like 75 or above because the house was shaking, and you could feel the siding coming off,” said one woman who lives in the Eagle Crossing neighborhood in Blue Springs.
Monday night, winds picked up a gazebo in the Eagle Crossing neighborhood of Blue Springs. It crashed into a nearby townhouse, shattering the glass door and rattling neighbors.
The woman who lives in the townhouse recalled the moment it shattered her door.
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“Then we hear bam, and it busted all this wall over here,” she said. “No sirens were going off. The sirens didn’t go off until after this, about 15 minutes later. That’s when the sirens came on. So I had an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, and needless to say, we were extremely scared. They were shaking because nobody knew what to do, and we didn’t really know what it was.”
Fortunately, no one was hurt when the gazebo crashed into the townhome.
