Texas woman rescued moments before car was swallowed by sinkhole
A Texas woman was rescued before a sinkhole swallowed her car.
El Paso Fire Department
A Texas woman was rescued from her car moments before it was swallowed up by a sinkhole, according to officials. The El Paso Fire Department posted about the incident via Facebook on Tuesday, August 9.
The department wrote how crews successfully rescued the woman from her white sedan car that fell into a sinkhole on Yandell and Gateway South around 6:40 p.m. when the area received heavy amounts of rain. Bystanders and firefighters used tools to keep the back end of the car somewhat above water, while others pulled the woman out of the car’s rear windshield.
Enrique Dueñas-Aguilar, the public information officer with the El Paso Fire Department, told Storyful that the woman was transported to medical care with minor injuries. Three firefighters were also treated for minor injuries. The Texas Department of Transportation also responded to the scene.
“Special thank you to the good Samaritans who assisted the crews in this rescue,” the El Paso Fire Department wrote.
Traffic was diverted at North Boone Street. On Wednesday morning, August 10, El Paso Water crews were able to remove the badly damaged car from the sinkhole caused by a water main break. The area remains closed until further notice.
A sinkhole is a depression in the ground that has no natural external surface drainage. Basically, this means that when it rains, all of the water stays inside the sinkhole and typically drains into the subsurface, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
