Sinkhole opens up on Bountiful east bench

BOUNTIFUL — On a night filled with rain, snow and wild weather across northern Utah, a sinkhole unexpectedly opened up Wednesday on the east bench.

Todd Elkins said his daughter came in from the rain and said mud appeared to be flowing out of nowhere in the cul-de-sac near 3400 Medford Dr.

“So I come out just thinking it’s a little bit of washout somewhere and the whole road is just kind of going up and down, mud is coming out of the road — it’s kind of rising and lowering in one spot pretty hard—and then it even moved to the middle of the street,” Elkins told KSL TV. “We just see the whole street filling up with mud and dirt and water — crazy!”

Elkins’ 16-year-old son Landon said he saw a neighbor test some of the asphalt and decided to walk on it himself.

He quickly fell neck-deep into the sinkhole.

“I tried climbing out but the rocks kept breaking, so I just sat there for a second and then just climbed out,” Landon said. “I got far enough where the rocks weren’t breaking anymore.”

The teen said he is 5-foot-10 and never quite touched the bottom. He and his father urged others not to mess with developing sinkholes.

Elkins said he feared the rain had caused an issue with an underground drain pipe, but he said he was told by workers the problem centered around a culinary water line.

Initial attempts late Wednesday evening to reach Bountiful city work crews for further comment about the issue were unsuccessful.