A highway running through a coastal Oregon town remains partially closed after heavy rains and a landslide caused a massive sinkhole to form, nearly consuming all four lanes.
The problem began this past December when torrential rains caused a culvert to fail and water to begin building up, creating a small sinkhole in the parking lot of a local restaurant.
“The hole was only the size of a volleyball, but it was a seven-foot hole,” Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Jared Castle told the Curry Pilot.
While officials were working to repair that first hole, another sinkhole was formed underneath Highway 101 in Harbor, Oregon around noon on Thursday after an overnight storm dumped nearly four centimeters of rain on the town, triggering a landslide which washed out part of the highway.
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The landslide forced crews to abandon work on the first sinkhole, which grew until it ate up a portion of the highway.
A detour went into effect at 9 p.m. Thursday night as emergency officials work to repair the damage caused by the sinkhole.
The above drone video was shot by Brookings High School graduate Kyle Rice, who shared his video with the Department of Transportation.
The Curry Pilot reports that local officials are estimating the total repair time at at least a week.
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