Post by L Roebuck on Nov 1, 2005 20:00:40 GMT -5
Pontotoc store drops 30 feet into sinkhole
11/1/2005 2:49:56 PM
pontotoc progress
(Sinking feeling - Observers check out the 22-feet wide by 30-foot deep sinkhole into which the floor, walls and some furnishings of the North Mississippi Pools’ store (in the old Sunflower shopping center) in Pontotoc collapsed last week.. The sinkhole was the result of water running under the building for years.)
By REGINA BUTLER
Progress Staff Writer
When the North Mississippi Pools’ store manager unlocked the door last Tuesday, Oct. 25, she got the shock of her life.
Her desk and virtually everything against the wall of the business was 30 feet below her in a giant sink hole.
“Tina called me at nine o’clock and said ‘I’m here, but the store isn’t’,” said Kevin Floyd, owner of the pool and spa store.
Floyd and his father, Paul, have been in the swimming pool business in Pontotoc for several years.
Their store was located in the old Sunflower shopping center on Lafayette Street, next door to the Mason Jar Antique Mall.
The sinkhole was about 22 feet wide and 30 feet deep. It caved in the floors of the pool business and what was a respiratory therapy business.
“I am grateful that no one was here when this happened,. Tina would have been under that pile of rubble.
“I’m also grateful that respiratory therapy store wasn’t there any more because they handled oxygen bottles and they would have probably exploded in the impact.”
But the fact that the floor can give way under you when you aren’t expecting it was mind-boggling to the store owner.
“You don’t think about a whole wall of your store caving in when you are standing on concrete.”
Floyd said he was told that over time, rain had washed into the ground under the building, and since the wall in his store was a load bearing wall, there was nothing to support it.
“It took years for this to get this bad,” he said.
Immediate concern for the safety of the other buildings was felt all along the strip of businesses.
Janice Thomas, owner/operator of the Mason Jar Antique Mall said she was immediately alarmed at what might happen to her building since the wall that gave way was a load bearing wall.
City building inspector James Anderson did a thorough inspection of the store and the grounds and told Thomas she had nothing to worry about.
“The building I’m in is separate from the others. It was built first and they were added later. It was a relief to know that my roof wasn’t about to sink in with the rest.”
The complex, which was built some 40 years ago, is owned by Mike Simon.
It was built on top of deep gullies that were filled in with the refuse of the city and dirt in the years before that.
The sinkhole is the second that has appeared in the area since July. Hurricane Dennis caused a major rain event in Pontotoc and a sinkhole started in the parking lot directly above where this sinkhole formed, and directly below a city drain that is located behind the General Store.
The city filled in that area with gravel.
To date, the city is digging a new path for the water to be funneled from the parking lot and laying new drain pipe.
The sinkhole in the store has been filled with a mixture of concrete and gravel, and the roofs are being held up with temporary studs.
Kevin Floyd had already been talking to someone in Tupelo to go into partnerships with before this happened. “That’s probably where I will end up with my store.”
www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=205386&pub=5&div=News
11/1/2005 2:49:56 PM
pontotoc progress
(Sinking feeling - Observers check out the 22-feet wide by 30-foot deep sinkhole into which the floor, walls and some furnishings of the North Mississippi Pools’ store (in the old Sunflower shopping center) in Pontotoc collapsed last week.. The sinkhole was the result of water running under the building for years.)
By REGINA BUTLER
Progress Staff Writer
When the North Mississippi Pools’ store manager unlocked the door last Tuesday, Oct. 25, she got the shock of her life.
Her desk and virtually everything against the wall of the business was 30 feet below her in a giant sink hole.
“Tina called me at nine o’clock and said ‘I’m here, but the store isn’t’,” said Kevin Floyd, owner of the pool and spa store.
Floyd and his father, Paul, have been in the swimming pool business in Pontotoc for several years.
Their store was located in the old Sunflower shopping center on Lafayette Street, next door to the Mason Jar Antique Mall.
The sinkhole was about 22 feet wide and 30 feet deep. It caved in the floors of the pool business and what was a respiratory therapy business.
“I am grateful that no one was here when this happened,. Tina would have been under that pile of rubble.
“I’m also grateful that respiratory therapy store wasn’t there any more because they handled oxygen bottles and they would have probably exploded in the impact.”
But the fact that the floor can give way under you when you aren’t expecting it was mind-boggling to the store owner.
“You don’t think about a whole wall of your store caving in when you are standing on concrete.”
Floyd said he was told that over time, rain had washed into the ground under the building, and since the wall in his store was a load bearing wall, there was nothing to support it.
“It took years for this to get this bad,” he said.
Immediate concern for the safety of the other buildings was felt all along the strip of businesses.
Janice Thomas, owner/operator of the Mason Jar Antique Mall said she was immediately alarmed at what might happen to her building since the wall that gave way was a load bearing wall.
City building inspector James Anderson did a thorough inspection of the store and the grounds and told Thomas she had nothing to worry about.
“The building I’m in is separate from the others. It was built first and they were added later. It was a relief to know that my roof wasn’t about to sink in with the rest.”
The complex, which was built some 40 years ago, is owned by Mike Simon.
It was built on top of deep gullies that were filled in with the refuse of the city and dirt in the years before that.
The sinkhole is the second that has appeared in the area since July. Hurricane Dennis caused a major rain event in Pontotoc and a sinkhole started in the parking lot directly above where this sinkhole formed, and directly below a city drain that is located behind the General Store.
The city filled in that area with gravel.
To date, the city is digging a new path for the water to be funneled from the parking lot and laying new drain pipe.
The sinkhole in the store has been filled with a mixture of concrete and gravel, and the roofs are being held up with temporary studs.
Kevin Floyd had already been talking to someone in Tupelo to go into partnerships with before this happened. “That’s probably where I will end up with my store.”
www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=205386&pub=5&div=News