Sinkhole opens up at National Corvette Museum, swallows cars
Published February 12, 2014FoxNews.com
A massive sinkhole that has opened up at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky has swallowed at least eight cars, a museum official says.
Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode told the Bowling Green Daily News
that the sinkhole, which he estimates to be around 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide, opened up early Wednesday morning.
"This is going to be an interesting situation," he said, nothing that a structural engineer is heading to the Bowling Green facility to evaluate the damage inside its Sky Dome section.
Six of the cars in the sinkhole are owned by the museum and two others are owned by General Motors.
The museum said in a press release that the cars are a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors, and a 1962 Black Corvette, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette.
Strode told the Courier-Journal
that emergency personnel allowed museum staff to remove the only surviving 1983 Corvette, which was at risk of joining the other cars in the sinkhole.
Before we do anything, like remove the other cars, we want that assessment so we know if theres been any structural damage to the Sky Dome, Strode told the Courier-Journal.
The area around the sinkhole is closed for visitors, but the rest of the museum remains open as of Wednesday morning.
An estimate of the cost of the damage done to vehicles and the museum has not been determined yet.
No injuries have been reported and Bowling Green city spokeswoman Kim Lancaster told The Associated Press that this appears to be the first incident of its kind at the property.
Bowling Green is also the only place where General Motors builds Corvettes. The city sits in the midst of Kentuckys Western Pennyroyal area, where many of the states longest and deepest caves run underground, according to The Associated Press.
Published February 12, 2014FoxNews.com
A massive sinkhole that has opened up at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky has swallowed at least eight cars, a museum official says.
Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode told the Bowling Green Daily News
"This is going to be an interesting situation," he said, nothing that a structural engineer is heading to the Bowling Green facility to evaluate the damage inside its Sky Dome section.
Six of the cars in the sinkhole are owned by the museum and two others are owned by General Motors.
The museum said in a press release that the cars are a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors, and a 1962 Black Corvette, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette.
Strode told the Courier-Journal
Before we do anything, like remove the other cars, we want that assessment so we know if theres been any structural damage to the Sky Dome, Strode told the Courier-Journal.
The area around the sinkhole is closed for visitors, but the rest of the museum remains open as of Wednesday morning.
An estimate of the cost of the damage done to vehicles and the museum has not been determined yet.
No injuries have been reported and Bowling Green city spokeswoman Kim Lancaster told The Associated Press that this appears to be the first incident of its kind at the property.
Bowling Green is also the only place where General Motors builds Corvettes. The city sits in the midst of Kentuckys Western Pennyroyal area, where many of the states longest and deepest caves run underground, according to The Associated Press.
