VIDEO: Elderly Couple Is Almost Swallowed by Giant Sinkhole

You never know what can happen in a day that looks like all the others and you should always be ready for the unexpected.

There are things that are completely out of your control. One such example is the appearance of a sinkhole right in front of you, or under you or in your home.

You can’t control these things, but you should be ready to react fast and get out of the situation with as little damage as possible.

According to wikipedia.org, a sinkhole, also known as a cenote, sink, sink-hole, shakehole, swallet, swallow hole, or doline (the different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably) is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer.

Most are caused by karst processes—for example, the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes.

Sinkholes vary in size from 1 to 600 m (3.3 to 2,000 ft) both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may form gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.

According to watchers.news, a large sinkhole opened up at the Gateway Plaza in Ocala, Florida late June 10, 2017, after heavy rains hit the region.

The hole swallowed pavement and a car whose occupants managed to escape without injuries.

They got really lucky and managed to get out of there just in time without any serious injuries. Things could have gone a lot worse.

The sinkhole opened near the intersection of Southwest 27th Avenue and State Road 200 and measures 8 x 8 x 8 m (25 x 25 x 25 feet).

Video of the event shows a car with an elderly couple inside the vehicle escaping before it was claimed by the sinkhole. Their car was removed on Sunday.

The hole also ruptured a gas line, forcing authorities to evacuate the area and close nearby businesses. Firefighters were able to secure the gas line and no injuries were reported.

An Ocala city official said Sunday it appears that the limerock under the parking lot’s drainage system eroded after heavy rain and flooding, causing it to collapse and form a hole.

A second, smaller sinkhole formed Sunday along the edge of a retention basin just north of the Goodwill Superstore on Southwest 27 Avenue in Ocala. Police responded to the report and marked off the hole by crime tape.

Over the past two weeks, Florida has been battered by waves of heavy rainfall, in places record-breaking, that pulled the entire state out of extreme drought conditions.

However, even without the recent extreme rainfall, Florida has more sinkholes that any other US state.

Since almost the entire state is underlain by carbonate rocks (limestone and dolostone), overlain by variable thicknesses and mixtures of sand and clay, sinkholes could theoretically form anywhere.

This is why the people that live in Florida should be even more prepared than those from other parts of the world because they are more likely to be confronted with such a situation.