Sinkhole forces evacuation of apartment buildings in central Israel

Sinkhole opens up in parking lot of apartment building. Authorities evacuate residents from the building and adjacent buildings.

By World Israel News Staff

Three apartment buildings in central Israel were evacuated Monday, after a sinkhole opened up in a parking lot.

The incident occurred in the city of Hod HaSharon Monday morning, when residents reported a sinkhole had opened up in the subterranean parking lot of one of the buildings.

Fire and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene, evacuating residents of the building where the sinkhole had appeared. As a precautionary measure, authorities also evacuated the residents of two nearby apartment buildings.

No injuries have been reported.

City engineers were also dispatched to the scene to examine the sinkhole and the structural integrity of the building.

According to a preliminary examination of the building, it appears that several walls necessary to support the structure haf been removed, leaving the complex in danger of collapse.

“I never imagined something like this,” Idan Milberg, a resident of one of the evacuated buildings, told Channel 12.

“This morning we received Whatsapp messages from the building’s [Whatsapp group] saying that there is a hole in the parking lot.”

“I said to myself, ‘What do they mean by ‘hole?’ I asked them to send a picture. Then I realized that it was a sinkhole. I called the fire and rescue services and forwarded them the photographs, and that is how it all started.”

After police came, Milberg continued, residents were barred from returning to their apartments.

“The police have closed down everything. No one can come or go. Whatever with took with us when we left in the morning is all we have. No one is telling us what is happening here.”

In September, a sinkhole opened up on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported.

Two months earlier, however, a 32-year-old man was killed when a sinkhole opened up in a swimming pool next to a private house in the town of Carmei Yosef. The incident occurred during a pool party.

Last year, a massive sinkhole opened up in the parking lot of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.