Sinkhole Claims Pond In California Backyard

A California man named Mark Korb woke up last Sunday morning to find a giant hole in his backyard where a pond used to be. Korb, who has an intact pond adjacent to the drained pond, believes a sinkhole managed to completely drain his pond in a mere five hours.

Sinkholes have been a hot commodity in the news of late, after a tragic incident in which a sinkhole opened up under a Florida home, pulling an entire bedroom’s worth of furniture as well as a man into the abyss. The man’s body was never recovered and the house was eventually torn down. In the US, sinkholes like these frequently pop up in Florida, as well as Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. However, they are a little more rare in the California area.

While plenty of sinkholes are natural depressions that occur due to rocks in the ground losing stability and falling apart, leaving holes underneath the surface, a professor at Sierra College told local news outlet KCRA that a hole in the ground may have opened up thanks to years and years of mining in the area. Korb and his family live in “Gold Country,” near Newcastle, CA.

Nature can sometimes do crazy and even beautiful things, and while it’s unfortunate the Korb family now has a giant—and probably dangerous—hole in their backyard, at least no one was injured or killed by this sinkhole incident. That’s a heck of a story the family will be able to tell forever, as well.