PAAUILO, Hawaii – The image of a sinkhole that consumed a truck during yesterday’s heavy rains on Hawaii Island has gone viral.
The hole, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the shape of the Big Island, opened up suddenly around 8 a.m. near Paauilo and Pohakea Mauka Road, right where the road goes over a culvert. Just as a vehicle was driving through.
According to Liana Iaea Honda, the Paauilo resident who took the photo, the driver made it out OK. Hawaii News Now identified the driver as Velma Deluz. Deluz told the news that the road just “sucked me right in and I just fell in and I tried to climb out through the window because it fell on its side.”
Meanwhile, Honda said the sinkhole stranded about 100 people up on hill with no road out. She says she left yesterday, but her husband who works for the county fire department stayed behind to help.
Honda says the sinkhole is much bigger now, and its no longer Big Island-shaped. The truck has been pulled out. Reports say crews will be working to fix the road. Luckily, the storms have eased over the island, and the rain- soaked residents are hoping it stays that way.
