Nearly a dozen cars swallowed by massive hole at Mississippi IHOP

A massive cave-in swallowed up 12 cars in an International House of Pancakes (IHOP) restaurant parking lot in Mississippi over the weekend.

The asphalt in the parking lot opened up just after 7 p.m. CT leaving a hole 15 metres wide and 121 metres long in Meridian, Miss., according to local media reports.

Meridian Public Safety Director Buck Roberts told the Meridian Star that engineers and contractors would be on scene Monday to try to determine the cause of the collapse, but refrained from calling it a ‘sinkhole.’

“You can call it what you want, a cave-in or whatever, but it is not a sinkhole,” Roberts said.

Sinkholes occur when an underground water aquifer dries up, leaving a void that results in the failure of the surface layer of soil above. The area that caved in appears to follow the path of an underground storm drain that dumps water into a nearby creek.

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Craig Hoffman, a spokesman for IHOP, told CNN that investigators are still trying to figure out what happened. No one was hurt in the incident.

“The cause of the sinkhole is still under investigation, and our primary concern continues to be the safety of our guests and team members,” Hoffman said. “The restaurant will remain closed until all necessary repairs have been completed.”