In May 1981 a gigantic sinkhole developed over the course of a day in Winter Park Florida. The city stabilized and sealed the area, converting it into an urban lake.
In 1995, a 60-foot-deep sinkhole made a 200-foot by 150-foot hole that swallowed two homes in San Francisco's high-end Sea Cliff neighborhood.
In 1998 this enormous chasm — 800 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 70 feet deep — opened up over two days after heavy rains and a drainage pipe burst in San Diego.
In November 2003 rescue workers had to remove this bus with a crane after it fell into a Lisbon, Portugal, street.
Three people went missing after this cavity devoured several homes in Guatemala City in February 2007.
A bird's-eye view of the void.
In March 2007 a road collapsed into an underground cave system in the southern Italian town of Gallipoli.
In September 2008 a road collapsed into a 16-foot deep, 50-foot wide hole and trapped a car in the Guangdong province of China.
This crater opened up in a residential area of Germany in 2010.
Tropical Storm Agatha created this crater in Guatemala City in May 2010.
This sinkhole in China is a staggering 492 feet deep and has been growing since it first opened in 2010. It has destroyed 20 homes so far.
A closer view of the gorge created by Agatha.
In May 2012 a road fell into a 49-foot long, 33-foot wide, 20-foot deep opening in Shaanxi province, China.
Another road collapse in Shaanxi — this one was 20 feet deep and 33 feet wide and broke three coal gas tubes and one water tube in December 2012.
One night in December 2012, a sinkhole measuring 33 feet deep and 164 feet wide developed under this section of road in southern Poland.
In January 2013 part of a paddy field in China's Hunan province caved in, one of more than 20 pits formed in the area in the previous four months.
A sinkhole opened up on this street in China in August, swallowing a giant truck.
This week, a sinkhole that collapsed part of a street in Ukraine killed six people who were riding in a car that fell into the pit.
Sinkholes are far from the only odd natural occurrence
