The headquarters of a West Virginia police department hang over a massive sinkhole, which presents a rather peculiar situation. The police station now stands on the rim of the pit that used to be its parking lot since the enormous cavity has been progressively expanding for almost 18 months. Engineers are attempting to stabilize the situation, but a genuine repair is urgently required.
In Hinton, West Virginia, police were astonished when a 6-foot-wide by 30-foot-deep pit suddenly appeared next to their parking lot on State Route 20 in June. An investigation revealed that the pit was the result of ground leaking from an old drain. That clarified the puzzle of why it had been there but had continued to expand.
West Virginia Sinkhole Threatens to Swallow Police Department as It Grows Larger https://t.co/vvpUAWwLlT
— People (@people) November 19, 2022
On November 11, as Hurricane Nicole stormed through the state, rain, washing away temporary fixes and widening the crater, things only became worse. Police officers are currently being forced to shift to temporary housing as the sinkhole continues to grow underneath the police building.
In addition, the West Virginia Department of Highways is hurriedly organizing a 125-foot temporary bridge to maintain Route 20’s accessibility until engineers can properly fix the 90-year-old drain that created the issue and fill in the gap. In the long run, the agency intends to erect a 300-foot steel drain to address the issue, but it’s a race against time to complete it before the Hinton Police Department vanishes into thin air.
