OCALA, Fla. (AP) -- A sinkhole that opened up in a restaurant parking lot during a spring storm in north Florida swallowed a car and ruptured a gas line.
The Ocala Star-Banner reports that the sinkhole opened up on Saturday around 5 p.m. after a strong rainstorm that caused flash flooding and the closure of multiple roads.
When the rains began 79-year-old Janet Coyne and her husband returned to their car after picking up some food from an Ocala restaurant, and got into their car.
As they were about to leave the front end dropped suddenly. Coyne and her 81-year-old husband managed to get out of the vehicle before it fell into the 25-foot-wide, 25-foot-deep sinkhole.
A city official says the sinkhole was likely caused by eroding limestone underneath the drainage system.
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