Teen on Street Corner Swallowed by Sinkhole

Kid was underwater for several seconds

A teen standing on a Houston street corner disappeared when a six-foot deep sinkhole suddenly opened up under his feet.

Giovanni Long, 16, found himself several feet below grade and underwater for about 15 seconds after a burst water main caused the six-foot deep, 10-foot wide hole in Kleinwood, a suburb northwest of downtown Houston.

"Everything beneath me crumbled," he told KHOU's website after the Monday afternoon incident. "I didn't know what to do."

"I was trying to dig my way out of the hole, but the ground kept breaking back into me," added Long, who finally got out with a few scratches on his back and a sprained ankle. "It's funny now that I think about it ... but when it happened, it was actually scary."

It's believed the months-long drought combined with recent rains caused the ground to shift after the 12-inch main broke.

Contact Us