When Sinkholes Strike: Watch Mother Nature Devour Vehicles

A recent video from China highlights what makes sinkholes both frightening and fascinating to watch. Seeing a vehicle fall into one is like witnessing a force that comes from within earth and decides to gobble up the things that surround us.

In this case, experts believe that heavy rain in the Chinese province of Jiangsu was a possible cause for a sinkhole to open in the city of Nantong on Saturday, June 10. An underground water pipe burst, too. The crater happened to be right underneath a minivan parked on the road. The video above highlights how quickly the street can give way and drop the vehicle into the pit. There were no fatalities in this incident, according to The Daily Mail.

Another recent clip (above) from Brazil was even scarier because it looked like the sinkhole singled out a lone crossover for a quick meal. The silver SUV was initially half way into the hole, but a video captured the moment that the crater opened even more. The incident didn't injure anyone but startled a dog walking by the scene.

One of the most spectacular sinkhole videos in recent memory is the amazing footage from the pit that swallowed important sports cars at the National Corvette Museum in 2014. The NCM turned the awful event into a tourism opportunity by keeping the public constantly updated on the repairs' progress. Visitors could also get a look at each recovered 'Vette as crews extracted them from the massive crater.

The National Corvette Museum needed months to repair the damage, but Japanese construction crews impressed the world in 2016 by rebuilding in just seven days after a gargantuan sinkhole. The clips above show the scale of the damage and offer an impressive look at workers' effort to fix the problem.