There’s a sinkhole on the White House’s North Lawn

Who knew that all that rain in D.C. over the past week would lead to the perfect storm of “Drain the Swamp” Twitter jokes? Reporters spotted a sinkhole on the North Lawn of the White House over the weekend, and it appears to be growing.

“It’s all river deposits,” volcanologist Jess Phoenix told the New York Times. “It’s sort of fluids interacting with solids, and gravity taking effect,” she explained, “not the gates of hell opening.” Good to know!

Here’s a temporary fix (hopefully, temporary): just add a green painted board over the sink hole.

The National Park Service is monitoring the sinkhole and doesn’t anticipate it to be a larger problem, according to a spokesperson:

• There’s a Sinkhole at the White House. Blame the Swamp. (Really.) [NYT]
• A Sinkhole Is Growing on the White House Lawn [Weather]
• An actual sinkhole has opened on the White House lawn. It’s growing [Quartz]