World News for Students of English

01-10-2015 07:00

A sinkhole the size of a football field has swallowed campers and tents at a popular Queensland campsite. Around 140 people had to be evacuated from the popular site near Queensland’s Rainbow Beach. Police and emergency crews were on site quickly, helping those in the immediate vicinity to evacuate. While some unfortunate campers lost their vehicles, others managed to escape to safety just in time.

“I heard a bit of commotion going on and when we woke up we looked out and there was the police up here with the lights on and people running round saying the sinkhole’s taking everyone’s van and what have you.”

“It’s heavy! There was just this hole. we didn’t even know there was a caravan in it.”

“We got woken up and they told us to get out and have a look so we got out and, yeah, got the car and the boat out and slept on the road last night and came back in and, yeah, the tent was still there luckily but next door lost their camper, it’s in the water.”

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services said the 500-foot (152 metres) sinkhole is 9 feet deep (2.7 metres) and takes up a large part of the campsite. Officials are continuing to monitor the situation and geotechnical engineers are to provide an assessment of the site.

Difficult words: swallow (to take in; to cause to disappear), camper (a camper van; a caravan), vicinity (the area near), commotion (a state of confused and noisy disturbance), assessment (assessing something – making a judgement).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com