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Rain Causes Sinkhole near Midway

CHICAGO (CBS)--In a waterlogged neighborhood near Midway Airport, the saturated ground opened up and a sinkhole started to form in an unassuming place.

"When I came back from running errands, I notice the big gaping hole and I go--holy cow," Sandy Dorner said.

Dorner told CBS 2's Audrina Bigos the sinkhole happens to be directly in the center of the handicapped parking spot assigned to her 80-year-old mom, who has parkinson's disease and cancer.

The family relies on the spot to get her mom in and out of the house.

"The hole is just scary, it's just really scary," Dorner said. "(My mom) can't do it herself so i pick her up, take her to the doctor's office--my sister helps take care of her."

Before city workers showed up late in the day Friday to cover the hole with a metal plate, Dorner took matters into her own hands.

"I put a 2x4 in there to warn people, don't go near this!"

Sandy reached out to CBS 2 about the sinkhole, and CBS 2 contacted the city.

Crews put up temporary barricades and a sandbag outside her house where the sinkhole opened up, at 55th and Madison.

"These big sinkholes swallow up cars," she said. "I don't want to be one of them and I don't want my neighbors to be one of them either."

Heavy rains that hit the Chicago area this week have caused sinkholes all over the city.

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