Garage Floor Of New York State Family Home Collapses, Swallowing Two Cars

This is not something you'd elected to happen when you're out of town. A family from New York State was in Florida when they received word the floor to their garage collapsed from with under. The giant hole the collapse created even took both of their vehicles down with it.

But what happened to this upstate New York family was not the work of a sinkhole. Sinkholes do happen in New York occasionally, though they are more often caused by water main breaks, or dilapidated pipes falling apart. Other causes can be rainstorms and aging infrastructure, which wash away softer rocks and other materials.

How did this happen? Is this sort of thing common?

Garage Floor Of New York State Family Home Collapses, Swallowing Two Cars  

The Post Standard reports that the Woolshlager family were in Florida when their son informed them that the garage floor had collapsed. The collapse occurred late Sunday morning, as the giant hole took down both of their cars that were parked inside.

WSYR reports that when firefighters arrived at the scene, they said that they saw the garage floor had caved in, which caused the homeowners’ cars and items in the garage to fall in as well. Other items in the garage then fell in on top of the sunken vehicles, reports officials.

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The deputy fire marshal for the town of Camillus, told The Post Standard that he believes there was a vault under the garage. he went on to say that there was "no foundation underneath the garage, and the floor was being held up by I-beams which likely rusted and gave way."

The Post Standard says that garage floor collapses do sometimes happen, and usually take place  in homes built before 1980. Many of the homes are ranches, though the home where this recent collapse occurred is not a ranch, says officials.