The sinkhole that appeared suddenly near an East Tennessee elementary school is more than 12 stories deep and 25 feet across. It's outside of Love Chapel Elementary School in Erwin.
The county emergency management director now says some dye crews placed in the water at the bottom of the sinkhole showed up in an old river bend.
The director says that means the water is moving underground and the entire area needs to be studied for ground stability.
That could take some time.
Original story
A sinkhole that is more than 12 stories deep has opened up within just a few feet of a Tennessee elementary school.
The gaping hole sits in the parking lot of Love Chapel School in Unicoi County.
Neighbors first spotted the sinkhole over the weekend. They say it keeps spreading and getting larger.
"The best we could measure was at 122 feet (deep) with the last 25 feet being water," said Unicoi County Director of Schools Denise Brown. "At that point I told them we would start filling it to try and keep it from growing. It might be a little safer if we get it filled."
This is the second sinkhole near the school recently.
The first sinkhole destroyed a pool adjacent to their property. Students weren't allowed on the playground for two and a half months while crews put up a fence and engineers did work on the property.
This time, the school has cancelled class for the week as administrators work to move students to another location indefinitely.