Dennis Love of Apple Valley says he was just walking across the front yard when it happened.
A sinkhole that was more than 15-feet deep, just opened up under his feet, swallowing him, a few steps from his front door on Oct. 15th around 2 p.m.
He remembers: “I was just standing like I am now, and the next thing I know I’m underwater. I’m just hanging onto roots with water up to my chest and hollering for help.”
His wife Sandy heard his cries for help: “I came out here to the front, and that’s where I found him in that hole. He was way down there, there was no way I could reach him.”
She called 911 and ran to a neighbor’s home to get help. He held him until the police showed up: “We were just holding onto him trying to bring him up, but he was so exhausted he couldn’t grasp onto us, we were just holding onto him … until the police department showed up within minutes.”
The sinkhole was most probably caused by failure of the leach pit attached to their septic system.
