Within a matter of minutes, a huge sinkhole abruptly took several acres of land with it along a stretch of State Highway 516 in Dover, Ohio on Wednesday.

Fox 8 Cleveland is reporting that a gaping hole roughly four football fields in size collapsed near a lake where the Newton Asphalt Company has spent quite some time dredging for sand around 50 feet beneath the surface.

"I've worked for the [Ohio Department of Transportation District] 16 years and I've never seen anything of this magnitude," stated District 11 Director Lloyd McAdam to First Coast News.

McAdam was quick to acknowledge that the dredging was related to the rare but dangerous sinking.

"It's very unusual that something like this would happen. It appears to me that dredging took away the bottom of the slope, and that probably eroded away and started cascading down, and just started filling the hole and filling the hole," he added.

Justifiably concerned, a few of the local residents fear that the sinkhole may increase in size.

"I'm not sure what to make of it. I've never seen anything like this before in my life," stated Jennifer Smith.

Hank Rutkowski, a mechanical engineer who works very close to the incident claimed that a man in his building was just about to drive his vehicle to through the area that sank, according to KSDK.

"There was a car coming down this road right about at the end when it was still drivable... That person might have been lucky."

Engineers will continue to closely examine the sinkhole and may also consider constructing a bridge over the area.

McAdam feels as though permanent repairs on the affected area won't be made until 2013.

"It's going to be a while before the road is open because this is a significant fix, and we're entering winter season where not a whole lot of construction can take place," he explained.

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