Giant Sinkhole Opens in New York and Swallows Vehicle
Sometimes when you think of sinkholes you may think of states down south like Florida. However, they can happen just about anywhere and seem to occurring more and more frequently in New York state. Sinkholes were never too common across our state until recent years, as more intense rainstorms and aging infrastructure have washed away softer rocks and other materials which can cause the earth to suddenly cave in.
When the ground caves in from below it can take just about anything with it; including trees, utility poles, and even large motor vehicles.
Sinkhole Takes Van
As heavy rainfall washed through the streets across the area earlier this week, crews were on hand to assist with the clean up. But right as CBS's cameras were rolling Tuesday, a huge sinkhole opened up from below. CBS says the hole even took a nearby van with it. The Department of Environmental Protection told CBS they were not sure however if the excess rain had anything to do with the collapse in Morris Park.
What Lies Below?
In a scene some may say captures the essence of life in New York in 2022, a family of rats was seen out on the town having a late night snack recently. While vermin like this is nothing new in the big city, social media has been quite enthralled with this video that has been shared tens of thousands of times across the internet.
Is Pizza Rat Back?
The New York Post even jokingly referred to the return of New York's famous Pizza Rat, though it is highly unlikely it is the same rodent. The Post says that the group of rats was seen carrying a slice of discarded pizza at a subway station near the L train. Soon video of the encounter was taken and posted to social media, and then later shared to the Subway Creatures Instagram account.
Rats Are Everywhere
For a city that's seen just about everything, wildlife encounters like this in New York City seem to draw a lot of attention online. We've mentioned Pizza Rat, but do you remember Taco Squirrel, Egg Roll Squirrel and even Egg McMuffin Rat? A report back in 2018 said that the rats in New York are getting even bigger given the amount of trash that's being thrown out. And that was two years before COVID.
Not surprisingly, New York and a few other cities in New York state ranked high for rat infestations. Orkin's list from late 2020 of the most rat-infested places to live, had not only NYC, but Syracuse, Buffalo, and Albany in the Top 50. According to the list, it seems all the rats are heading to Albany. The state capitol went up 10 whole spots from last year's rankings to number 38. Buffalo and Syracuse fell to 43rd and 44th place, respectively.
What city topped the overall list? Chicago. Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco were all next.
Staten Island even named their Class-A Penn League baseball team the Pizza Rats.
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