WNKY Weather Reports: Sinkholes

Sinkholes Can Form After Heavy Rainfall

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-When we think about sinkholes, we think about the major ones which occurred within the last twenty five years. For instance, fallen bedrock  at the National Corvette Museum.  

Nick Lawhon is the geologist at Bowling Green Public Works. Public Works conducts geotechnical investigations, to inspect the risk of sinkholes. Sinkholes are pretty common, and sinkholes are typically repaired on a weekly basis.  Lawhon estimates repairs between 1 to 4 times a week. Due to our region’s karst terrain, the risk for sinkholes are prevalent during periods of intense rainfall  whether it’s during late winter into spring or from intense late summer storms following dry spells .

“Whenever it rains, water drains down through the soil and into cracks in the bedrock, eventually makes its way into larger and larger caves before coming out of springs. Now, at that point where water enters the bedrock,it is very acidic, and starts to eat away the bedrock. You get a cavity in the bedrock,and then that fills the soil. As water moves through, over time, it takes on that soil with it a little more soil with it a little more over time. Eventually you have a big void in the subsurface.” – Lawhon