WATCH: The epic IHOP sinkhole that ate 15 cars
Digital Reporter
Monday, November 9, 2015, 9:00 AM - Heavy rains may have been behind the massive sinkhole that opened outside an IHOP in the Mississippi town of Meridian.
Local reporters tweeted out pictures of the sinkhole, which swallowed 15 vehicles Saturday night, but drone footage captured from overhead in daylight shows the sheer extent of the gash in the earth.
The massive sinkhole is around 15 m long and 180 m wide. Mississippi News Now reports customers heard a a serious of loud booms before the hole opened, accompanied by a power outage.
"Emergency personnel tell me that roughly 15 vehicles were swallowed by the Earth and they don't believe anybody was inside of the vehicles," WTOK reporter and meteorologist Aaron Morrison said on Twitter.
A car teetering on the edge of the sinkhole. Pieces of pavement are still falling. pic.twitter.com/8FZSQNPjIZ
— Aaron Morrison (@Morrison_wx) November 8, 2015
Emergency services told media no one was injured, and although forecast rain is hampering efforts to recover the vehicles, officials told NBC News they should be able to get them out within three to five days.
Sinkholes have been known to open up in certain land types following heavy rain, and WTOK reports that part of the Mississippi got around 75 mm of rain over the weekend, and around 250 mm over the past two weeks.
SOURCES: Mississippi News Now | NBC News
