[caption id="attachment_63788" align="aligncenter" width="634"] Sinkhole swallows pond in Newcastle California [/caption]Sinkhole Swallows Pond in Northern California

In Newcastle, California, a small, unincorporated town, located 31 miles northeast of Sacramento, there was another incident of a sinkhole causing damage in a residential area. Homeowner Mark Korb awoke Sunday morning, March 17th, to find a sinkhole had swallowed the man-made pond in his backyard.

According to the Christian Post, he estimates that the pond, which took him seven days to drain a few years ago, was gone this time in a matter of 4 to 5 hours, leaving behind nothing but a muddy and potentially dangerous mess.

Newcastle, is in an area of California that in the late 1800’s was the cradle of “gold country”, although at this time it’s not clear if previous mining activity had anything to do with the formation of this sinkhole. Sierra College professor of geology, Alex Amigo, says that this sinkhole was probably not caused by ground water dissolving material, but rather by some kind of crack or fissure, possibly a result of mining activity, that could have allowed the water to drain very fast.

It was just two weeks ago that a sinkhole opened under a Florida home, swallowing a man who was in his bed, and whose body was never recovered.

"All they could see was a part of a mattress sticking out of the hole," said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Ron Rogers. "Essentially the floor of that room had opened up."

According to a report from Reuters, a sheriff deputy who arrived at the scene rescued the man's brother who jumped in the sinkhole and tried to rescue him.

"I feel in my heart he didn't make it," the brother, Jeremy Bush, told Tampa TV station WFTS. "There were six of us in the house, five got out."

A memorial for 37-year-old Jeff Bush was just held on Tuesday, March 19th, in his honor.

And in Louisiana, governor Bobby Jindal announced that homeowners in Assumption Parish who had to evacuate their homes due to a growing nine-acre sinkhole would receive buyout payments from the Texas Brine Co. of Houston.

“Our legal counsel was able to bring the governor up to speed on where things stand with the current legal filings and explain that Texas Brine is preparing to engage either directly or through counsel with those residents interested in discussing a possible resolution to their claims,” explained Texas Brine president Ted Grabowski.

Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle,_CA

Sinkhole Swallows Pond: New California Sinkhole Stuns Locals as Pond Disappears
http://www.christianpost.com/news/sinkhole-swallows-pond-new-california-sinkhole-stuns-locals-as-pond-disappears-92202/

http://gnli.christianpost.com/video/sinkhole-swallows-pond-in-northern-california-8941