Florida Sinkhole Tragedy—Could It Happen Here?

. are reporting on a man who was swallowed by a massive sinkhole while he slept. The news has the nation wondering how this could happen.

A sinkhole partially swallowed a tractor trailer near Bethlehem and another sinkhole situation led to home evacuations in nearby Hanover Township in 2011.

Emergency crews even rescued a dog from a sinkhole in the Lehigh Valley.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says the holes are "an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage."

"When it rains, all of the water stays inside the sinkhole and typically drains into the subsurface." 

When the rock surrounding the surface is saturated with water, it will "naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them," according to USGS.

But what does a massive sinkhole in Florida have to do with Pennsylvania? Along with the Sunshine State, Pennsylvania is listed in the top seven states in the nation to have such sizeable sinkholes.

"The most damage from sinkholes tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania," said the USGS site.

Just this past spring, a sizeable hole caused a major mess for traffic in King of Prussia. When the intersection at Crooked and Manor lanes was replaced with a sinkhole, many went without water service. A Pennsylvania American Water line cracked in the creation of the sinkhole, taking hours to repair.

Another sinkhole was created in April 2012 in Forks Township in the Lehigh Valley, putting a nearby elementary school's staff on edge. 

On Friday, reported that an underground cement box created a massive sinkhole in a parking lot.

According to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) of Pennsylvania, the state is filled with developments on areas of rock that often have been known to cause sinkholes.