Everything Went Black and We Heard a Boom': Parking Lot Cave-In Swallows a Dozen Vehicles, Stretches 400 Feet

MERIDIAN, Miss. (TheBlaze/AP) — A weekend cave-in of a restaurant parking lot in Mississippi swallowed 12 cars and now experts are to begin work Monday seeking to determine the cause of the collapse, authorities said.

You don't expect this on your trip to IHOP. Huge sinkhole in Meridian, MS. Cause is unknown. https://t.co/P1jbheS7V1 pic.twitter.com/SQXCVKdJsK

— Joyce Peterson (@MemphoNewsLady) November 8, 2015

Meridian Public Safety Director Buck Roberts told The Meridian Star that the collapse Saturday night was not the result of a sinkhole, which is generally caused when an underground water aquifer dries and leaves a void in the ground.

"You can call it what you want, a cave-in or whatever, but it is not a sinkhole," Roberts said.

Giant 'Sinkhole' Swallows Over Dozen Cars at Mississippi Inter#national House ... -… https://t.co/F4F8UyTYvK pic.twitter.com/9qMgM6kU1Y

— #SocialMedia NC (@greensboro_nc) November 8, 2015

Roberts said engineers and contractors would be on the scene Monday studying the site.

Emergency crews were called to the IHOP restaurant in Meridian on Saturday evening and found a section of parking lot about 35 feet wide and 400 feet long had collapsed. Cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles had dropped into the gash in the earth, which appeared to be about 15 feet deep.

Took my #drone out to the #Meridian sinkhole this morning, which is minorly famous now I guess? pic.twitter.com/MM9in6gKiU

— Lieutenant Somebody (@overdesigned)

November 8, 2015

No injuries were reported.

Gwendolyn Fikes told the Meridian Star her daughter's car was one of the vehicles that fell into to the chasm. Fikes said she and her daughter had stopped by the restaurant just minutes earlier when it happened.

"We'd been in there about three minutes," Fikes told the paper. "Then everything went black and we heard a boom."

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