An enormous sinkhole in a town in Texas, United States, triggered fear among local residents that the ground might literally disappear under their feet.

The sinkhole grew to the length of three football fields in just two days in Daisetta, a once-booming oil town with one thousand or so residents. It is 60 miles northeast of Houston.

In the process, it swallowed up oil tanks and barrels, tires, telephone poles and several vehicles.

Residents feared that the appetite of the sinkhole would continue unabated and threaten nearby homes, although officials did not issue an evacuation order.

"It scared me, I didn't know that we moved on top of a salt dome so it was different. I never had to worry about that in Tennessee."

"I still don't think it's over, you know this is all just a big salt dome and it could keep going at any time."

Daisetta's mayor Lynn Wells also said that he feared the next rain storm could be disastrous.

"There's still a lot of stress cracks all the way around the hole and we're concerned that the next big rain we have, with the ground unstable, that we're going to have still quite a bit more sluffing off around the area."

Officials explain that Daisetta sits on a salt dome, a natural formation created below the ground. Oil drilling in the area, still dotted with working oil derricks, is believed to have weakened the dome and caused it to collapse.