Woman plunges into sinkhole at North Carolina car dealership. ‘A lot of nightmares’
Kia Long-Gyant was in the parking lot at Frank Myers Auto Maxx in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Monday, Sept. 12, when the ground gave out underneath her, she says.
After purchasing a car from the dealer on Friday, Long-Gyant went back on Monday to have it detailed.
She walked out the back door of the dealer with a salesperson when the asphalt beneath her collapsed into a sinkhole, according to WXII.
“I, thank God, did not have any broken bones, just a lot of scrapes and bruises and went to the hospital. They said I was OK,” Long-Gyant told the outlet.
Tracy Myers, owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, said he came out of his office moments after his customer’s fall. He was shocked.
“Other than movies and television, I’ve never seen a sinkhole in real life,” Myers told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
As soon as Long-Gyant fell, the dealership called 911 and the Winston-Salem Fire Department responded immediately, Myers said.
“They got here super quick. Got her out,” Myers explained, “She came up on a ladder on her own accord.”
While firefighters worked to rescue Long-Gyant, Myers instructed a salesperson to move Long-Gyant’s car, which did not fall in the sinkhole but was near the edge.
“There was asphalt, but there was no dirt beneath that,” Myers said.
Though she has only some scrapes and bruises, Long-Gyant told McClatchy News she has experienced back, knee and neck pain since the incident. She had a chiropractor appointment Sept. 15.
Long-Gyant said she has also struggled emotionally since the incident. She hasn’t been able to sleep and has had “a lot of nightmares.”
“My anxiety is high,” she said. “Everywhere I walk or drive I think the ground will collapse beneath me and I will fall in and die.”
The approximately 10 foot deep sinkhole occurred around a storm water manhole that the dealership is responsible for, Myers said. One of the pipes running between the road and the manhole collapsed in two places, and the buildup of water eroded the soil underneath the asphalt.
“TNext step is to dig up the rest of the ground, fix that part of the pipe, get the engineers back out here with the camera, make sure there’s no broken pipe and make sure it’s sealed properly so it doesn’t happen again,” Myers said.
There were no indications that the pipe had collapsed before Monday, Myers said. The hole is blocked off with metal fencing for the safety of other customers.
This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Woman plunges into sinkhole at North Carolina car dealership. ‘A lot of nightmares’."
