{"id":8714104,"date":"2023-01-12T08:24:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T16:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8714104&preview=true&preview_id=8714104"},"modified":"2023-01-12T08:29:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T16:29:32","slug":"chatsworth-sinkhole-made-national-news-wrecked-two-vehicles-and-is-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/12\/chatsworth-sinkhole-made-national-news-wrecked-two-vehicles-and-is-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"California sinkhole made national news, wrecked two vehicles, and is growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chatsworth sinkhole that made national news this week when it swallowed two vehicles and led to the harrowing rescue of a mother and her daughter, was created by pounding torrential rain in the San Fernando Valley on Jan. 9. Now city crews are investigating how it happened.<\/p>\n

A mom and daughter in their Nissan, and a male driver and his passenger in a pickup truck, escaped from the dark, gaping, flooded hole on Monday night after their vehicles fell, without warning, into a cavernous gap in Iverson Road just yards from the 118 Freeway in northern Chatsworth.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said on Wednesday Jan. 11 that the second vehicle, carrying the two men, fell into the hole and landed atop the first car in which the women were trapped, and the men \u201cgot out on their own and scrambled out of the sinkhole prior to our arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Pesky potholes: Bay Area storm brings rash of new roadway damage<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The mother and daughter faced a more harrowing situation, trapped in the dark in their Nissan as the San Fernando Valley got hammered by an \u201catmospheric river\u201d storm.<\/p>\n

Iverson Road was so unstable that LAFD rescuers who arrived Monday night couldn\u2019t work near the edge of the cavern, and the city\u2019s helicopters were grounded due to the fierce winds and extreme downpour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That gave rescuers only one option: A large crew of LAFD rescuers \u201cused ladders and a harness system for a rope rescue with aerial and ground ladders,\u201d Humphrey said. \u201cThe rescuer was in a harness\u201d in order to reach the mother and daughter.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, he said, the \u201cDepartment of Street Works and other city officials are there, with experts to assess the soil and investigate so this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d The city crews are \u201ctrying to understand what happened\u201d he said.<\/p>\n