A sinkhole has opened up on the White House grounds and is "growing larger by the day," according to reporters who first spotted the sunken turf.
The sinkhole was found Sunday on the North Lawn of the White House, near the entrance to the press briefing room, a National Park Service spokeswoman said Tuesday evening.
Photos from reporters who first spotted the sinkhole show that it's no more than a few feet wide. But White House reporter Steve Herman, of Voice of America, tweeted that it had grown since he first spotted it over the weekend, and another sinkhole has opened next to it.
Sinkholes are common in the D.C. area after heavy rain, as the area has had in the past week, NPS spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said. The National Park Service, which oversees the White House grounds, said it is monitoring the sinkhole and evaluating how to respond.
"We do not believe it poses any risk to the White House or is representative of a larger problem," Anzelmo-Sarles said.
Known to swallow cars and homes, sinkholes are generally formed when water erodes the earth's surface layer.
One year ago, a sinkhole also opened up in front of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Palm Beach officials said a water main caused that sinkhole.
The coincidence set social media alight with wisecracks about what the sinkhole means and by Tuesday afternoon the sinkhole had a parody Twitter account.
"Can neither confirm nor deny I am the hole dug from China #sinkhole #WhiteHouse #whitehousesinkhole," The White House Sinkhole wrote in a tweet.
