Milwaukee Sinkhole Swallows Driver in SUV

(July 23) -- A man was rescued from a sinkhole in Milwaukee, asking "What happened?" after his Cadillac Escalade plummeted into the a chasm that opened up during a deluge.

A Cadillac Escalade sits in a sinkhole in Milwaukee

Mike Thiel, TwitPic

A man was rescued from a sinkhole in Wisconsin after his Cadillac Escalade plummeted into a giant hole in the middle of the road, which was caused by extensive flooding.

Lance Treankler, 25, said he was driving his new Escalade down the road when he noticed something odd: "The streetlight was just, like, underground," he told AOL News in a phone interview today. Treankler said he didn't have much time to process what he was seeing. "I was trying to comprehend it," he said. "Then the road just collapsed under me."

Treankler said he fell about 20 feet into the hole and lost consciousness for a few seconds because of the force of the impact. When he opened his eyes, all he could see was mud, telephone wires and water rushing at him from out of a sewage pipe. "I thought, 'I'm either going to get electrocuted or drown,' so I knew I needed to get out," he said.

The Milwaukee resident had climbed out the window of his SUV when a man standing above the gaping hole offered him a much-needed hand.

Mark Pawlik, 46, says he reached over the edge of the growing sinkhole and helped pull the driver onto solid ground by his belt loop. Pawlik told AOL News today that he'd seen the Escalade simply vanish from the road as the sinkhole opened.

"It's not everyday you see a car disappear right next to you," he said.

Treankler was rescued just in time. "Literally ten seconds later, there was a big boom and a huge pop, and a cable line came down and electrocuted the whole area," he said. "Mark definitely saved me on that one."

The earth under the SUV gave way Thursday evening amid severe storms that dumped as much as eight inches of rain on the area in less than 24 hours, according to WFRV-TV 5.

Pawlik said Treankler seemed confused and asked, "'What happened? What just happened?'" Police arrived and Treankler was taken to the hospital for minor injuries, and then released. A call for comment to the Milwaukee police was not returned today.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, though Treankler says his new Escalade is totaled. The car remained in the sinkhole Friday afternoon in drive, and had not yet run out of gas.

But sinkholes weren't the only problem in Milwaukee on Thursday night, when wild weather wreaked havoc. The torrential downpour flooded homes and streets, and forced General Mitchell International Airport to close until noon today, WBAY 2 reports. Two people were struck by lightning.

Still more rain is on the way for Milwaukee today, and the National Weather Service has issued flash flood warnings for the already sodden area.