Washout (erosion)

If a washout occurs in a crater-like formation, it is called a sinkhole, and it usually involves a leaking or broken water main or sewerage pipes.

Like other forms of erosion, most washouts can be prevented by vegetation whose roots hold the soil and/or slow the flow of surface and underground water.

[1] When a washout destroys a railroad's right-of-way, the track is sometimes left suspended in midair across the newly formed gap, or it dips down into a ditch.

In 2004, the remnants of Hurricane Frances, and then Hurricane Ivan, caused a large number of washouts in western North Carolina and other parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains, closing some roads for days and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway for months.

Motorists have also driven into flooded streams at night, unaware of a new washout on the road in front of them until it is too late to brake, sometimes prompting a high-water rescue.