The "I Bought The Insurance. Did You?" Story

The yellow dome is where the sinkhole developed.

It was an ordinary day.  Until something biblical happened and swallowed an entire ....... well, an entire load of Corvettes.  Recently a 40-foot sinkhole opened under the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The museum is located near the plant where the Corvettes are manufactured.  On Wednesday, February 12, at approximately 6:00 AM, alarms went off in the "Skydome" area of the museum and security officers rushed to the scene.

The massive sinkhole can be seen in this photo.

Eight collector Corvettes, worth many millions, disappeared into the 40-foot sinkhole that was estimated to be more than 30 feet deep.  Security cameras captured two of the cars falling in as the hole opened.  A professor from Western Kentucky University said that sinkholes are not unusual for the region where the museum is located.  The area is famous for its massive underground cave system.  

Here a few of the Vettes can be seen in the hole.

Much of south-central Kentucky lies on a irregular limestone landscape that is susceptible to the develop- ment of sinkholes, which are created when underground water erodes the soft limestone or enlarges cracks in the stone.  Usually doesn't happen under buildings, but where there is a lot of drainage, runoff and surface water.  I can't imagine that test borings of the area weren't done before the museum was build, but I guess the earth provides mysterious happenings.  One of the Vettes swallowed in the dirt and debris was the historic white one millionth corvette built in 1992 which was valued at several million dollars.  

Closeup view of two of the Vettes.  They almost look as
if they are Matchbox Cars.

Two Vettes on loan from General Motors Co., a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" also fell into the gaping pit.  In addition the following cars were eaten alive: a 1962 black Vette, a 1984 PPG Pace Car, a 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Vette and a 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette.  Can any of the Vettes be salvaged?  Many of the employees watching the event were said to have tears in their eyes.  A drone helicopter was brought in to survey the damage and check to see where most of the cars might be located.  Wires were strewn about the pit, which has sharp, dirt-covered rocky edges.  I assume the museum was built on a concrete slab, but the drone images show very little of the concrete slab.  Naturally, every one of the Vettes has a story behind it just as the Vette that I owned did.  My Vette wasn't as valuable as the eight listed, but it still had sentimental value.  The six Corvettes that were part of the museum's collection, other than the two on loan, were donated by Corvette collectors around the country.  

Other Corvettes can seen around the sinkhole.

How do you make the call to tell them what has just happened to their beauty.  A Bowling Green contractor is now devising a plan to attempt to recover the cars as well as make repairs to the museum.  He hopes to have it done by August in time for the 20th Anniversary of the museum.  As I read more about the the disaster, I read that the surrounding area is well-versed in sinkholes.  I assume therefore that the museum carried sink-hole insurance.  

Cars swallowed by the dirt.

Have to be crazy not to have it.  It was a few years ago that my insurance company called me asking if I wanted to update my home-owners policy.  Told me that for a minuscule amount I could have flood insurance.  I live on high ground and there are no rivers or streams nearby, but I said sure.  A few months later I had water from a supposed underground stream come into my house through my french drain.  I felt like a genius that I had taken the insurance.  So when the company  called again not long ago and told me they could upgrade me for very little and I would be totally covered for sinkholes, I took it.  Never know, do we?  Are you prepared?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - YouTube video shows footage from the security cameras and the drone footage.