Exactly!!

Wow, how unfortunate. Especially the fact that it's too unstable to even try and rescue the other guy.

But, they'll send 10 rescuers up a mountain to rescue one man who purposely did a stupid thing and gets his tit in a ringer and come back one rescuer short...

I do not believe I have ever seen 'Treamers'. :D

You mean Tremors? Other than the fact that that movie had a creature coming up and eating people and this was a sinkhole, then yes....it's just like that movie!

"Dexter Barge with Hillsborough County’s Code Enforcement was also on the scene."

Why was he there? Building department maybe, but code enforcement? What's he going to do, write them up for a large hole in their yard?

Why was he there?

In-ground pool without a permit?

I think Florida is sinking. So many sinkholes popping up there. I'm staying right here, on this bedrock.

I grew up in Central FL and this is common for sinkholes to open up in the winter as the water tables are low. The population boom has caused the holes to open up in residential areas. If you ever fly in to say Disney look at all the lakes, most were formed by sinkholes.

This is the first I have heard of a person going down in one while sleeping. Scary stuff and I wonder if the neighborhood will be condemned as unsafe? Condolences to the family.........

TFNJ, The town of Bedrock? Sounds like a "Place right out of His-to-ryyyyy".

Live in Florida? fix those leaking pipes.

LOL Yaba daba doo.

Marywhatever

Tremors

I first thought of No Name City from the Lee Marvin and Clint eastwood movie "Paint Your Wagon". That was where Lee and Clint were excavating under all the stores in the town to collect gold dust that filtered down when the prospectors paid for their purchase using the gold dust they mined! However, Tremors is good too!

Come on, this is clearly C.H.U.D

@flnobody

Dexter Barge was there to force this homeowner to fill in the damn hole. The homeowner just got a letter from Citizens insurance because he has a sinkhole under his house. And Citizens is sending out a letter in the next day or so advising him that if repairs aren't completed withing 30 days his insurance will be reevaluated and it will increase to $47,000 a year because his house is in a known sinkhole area. Guess the a-holes running Citizens need the money for more table dances at Mons Venus or hookers in their offices in Tallahassee.

california is burning up, fla. is sinking; we're all gonna die.

So much for 'Stand your Ground'

This shouldn't be happening in Florida.

Hey Jax--- Thanks. I never spell things right. I liked Paint Your Wagon. Didn't think of that one.

GM Creek & Jack

I'm a Florida native and although sinkholes are nothing new, I believe this is the first time I've ever heard of one killing someone. May have happen before, I'm just not aware of it.

Much of central Florida is over an underground aquifer system which supports the overhead dirt until the water drops. I have often wondered if the water drop is associated with the massive mining pits going on around the area. The WR Grace company over near Mulberry, Fl digs seriously deep gigantic pits to get phosphates out of the ground.

@cowtowntrucker (#1.14): The problem in California is not the heat, it's coastal erosion:

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/nov/01/coastal-erosion-problems-highlighted-in-new/

@Dale (#1.18): ???

@okeeboy (#1.17) As far as I know, the aquifer doesn't really "support" the ground above, but rather is a means of extracting ground water using a water well. It is indeed possible, as you say, that the extraction of ground water for industry is what is causing a drop in the water table in that area though water levels generally go down in Florida in the wintertime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer

It's a vortex caused by the Walternate's universe!!

It's like that movie TREAMERS.

I'd like to think that marywhatever was just trying to be funny, purposefully misspelling Tremors, but with that moniker, I have to wonder... Oh, well, what ever!

That looks like my Dachshund, though different color.

I believe if you look at the image, the hole is in the home itself. So the only way to access the hole is from inside the house. The problem is that the actual sink hole is 100 feet wide with only a 30 foot opening at the surface. Think of a frozen lake where there is a hole in the center but the ice within 20ft of that hole is only an inch thick. If they try and get too close to the house, the ground under them can collapse. So before you send firefighters and an engine to it's death, they need to wait for geologists and soil surveyors to assess the situation first. It's called being safe.

That is pretty freaky... like hell coming to claim you... nowhere to run, nowhere to hide when your number is up...

plain bob, just where do you suggest they park that ladder truck when the hole is actually 100 feet across just beneath the surface? I don't think the Fire Department wants to contribute their $450,000 shiny truck to the sink hole.

Given the weight would very likely make it fall through.The depth is equivalent to a five story building.It's likely the home's cement foundation and wooden structure is all that is keeping the 30 foot opening from collapsing downwards. But I suspect it will probably not stay that way for long.

It may not be possible to retrieve the home owner's body. Sometimes deceased victims cannot be recovered because they pose too deadly a risk to the rescue workers in retrieving. There have been cases where families have lost additional loved ones trying to get bodies, after rescue workers were forced to stop. Ignoring warnings because they had to have their loved ones. Surely not what the victim would have desired.

It is understandable what grief can do, but at such times cooler heads must prevail to prevent an even greater tragedy. Loved ones might have good intentions but it is trained professionals who must be allowed to make the ultimate calls.

Deepest condolences to the family on their loss of a beloved one. However, congratulations to Fire Department's rescue worker in saving the brother of the home owner.For his quick thinking,which almost cost him his own life.No doubt this family is so truly thankful, even as they struggle with this awful incident

"congratulations to Fire Department's rescue worker in saving the brother" Windancer

"A deputy sheriff who was first on the scene pulled out the missing man’s brother from the collapsing house"--news article.

It was a sheriff's deputy, not a fireman. You know, one of those worthless, lazy, corrupt, civil rights violating, useless, dangerous thugs in blue that so many people on these forums like to rail against.

A gazillion tears ago FL was a coral reef. Which is now the aquafer and the sandy surface. When you remove enough water from the aquafer the ground subsides. SINK HOLE. There is a park in a sink-hole in Gainesville called "The Devil's Mill Hopper", that's an interesting half-day walk and nature trail, if you get near there.

Welcome to Florida, Home of "Whacky-Land" (Elian Gonzalez, Hangin' Chad, 8 hour voting lines, Axe-handle saturday, Rilya Wilson, Giant Sink-Holes, and many more WONDERS). Arizona, Kansas and Texas are trying, but Florida is "America's Capital of Whacky & Wierd"!

This is the stuff of nightmares.

I hope they can save the guys brother. The sides of these sinkholes are very unstable and I fear the worst for him.

Used to live in a house like that (same floor plan) in Homestead Florida. We had a water pipe break and the only way to fix it was to cut off the pipe and run it along the outside wall. The original pipes were either in or under the slab and unreachable. I wonder if they had a abnormally high water bill?? Hmmm...

Use a large hovering helicopter to remove roof and then for the rescue.

@big ed... You sure got the gazillion "tears" ago right. Just in the time I've been here, since 1982, I've seen Florida go down the tubes. It used to be a great place to live and play, but now it's a cesspool of over development, illegals, teabaggers and a state government run by the most corrupt Republicans in America.

Anyone looking for a nice old well built 3,500sqft 5/4/2 home (non sinkhole area) 65ft above sea level yet only 2 miles or so from the beach?

BTW- Think of a sinkhole as the sand in an hourglass. It only takes a small hole in the underground structure to fail for everything to start sinking and the only way it will stop is when the hole is plugged with debris. I sure hope this guy has been able to fight to stay above the hole in the bottom. That would be a really bad way to die.

Gee, the man was having a "real" life nightmare happening in his own bed.

What a scary thing to go through. Waking up and being swallowed up by the earth, and then to find out it wasn't a nightmare, but actually happening for real.

RIP, but you never know. He may have been taken to another dimension, or to "The Center of the Earth" .

That sucks!

@TFNJ - My avatar is a picture of a dog I had that died some time ago - she had a sweet personality....

@culheath - you can't simply pull the roof off a structure without the roof collapsing. Butthe real issue is that the structure itself lis unstable - even if there was no roof, there's the threat of the walls falling over as well as the sides of thesinkholel caving in...

Somehow assault weapons will be to blame..

If the floor joists were properly tied with reinforcing plates as current code for new peer and beam homes requires the other guy might still be alive.. Bet they had heard creaking and had walls cracking and noticed tings going out of plumb days before the event.. The house was telling them something and they did not listen..

I think the Hell sucked in the wrong Bush guy... it was supposed to be Texas, dammit!

Right results , , wrong Bush...

Al Gore's revenge on the "Bush" family? sorry, couldn't resist!

What a nightmare for the guy trapped!

And about 13 years to late.!

Somehow, someone will figure out a way to bring assault weapons into this conversation, even though it has nothing to do with guns.

dang, what a horrible way to die

and it seems to be made worse by the reality that they could hear him initially, as if he wasnt too far away when he fell in...but I understand the professionals taking precautions, who knows when the entire whole will collapse.

how do you even deal with this problem in a residential area...what do the people living near this do? you know the bank will hold them to their mortgages, insurance wont cover it, and they wont be allowed to live there...they're just screwed.

"Sinkhole sucks Florida man"

What a headline.

@culheath

Use a large hovering helicopter to remove roof and then for the rescue.

Yes that seems practical and reasonable considering local districts, municipalities, and townships across the US are broke.

I hope you were joking. If not can they send you the bill for this recovery effort?

@JK-4363698

"Sinkhole sucks Florida man"

What a headline.

For a second I thought they were talking about my best friend's ex wife

suffering suckatash, these blogs are so funny,they crack me up.........

God: "Opps, wrong Bush!"

How do we order a sink hole for DC?

"Ultimately, it looks just like a normal neighborhood," Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz said.

THAT looks like a normal neighborhood? If you call ghetto, normal. That house is junk..

Anyone who has a wee bit of knowledge of home construction, can see that is a cheap ass plywood slab box. Look at the beautiful "cardboard drapes" won't see those on HGTV.

At least it has a cellar now!!

@ Suds in Denver, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnX-D4kkPOQ

"If you love America, you throw money in its hole."

I found it interesting that the location of this is near to where the Gulf side of the canal they starting to build across Florida. They stopped when they discovered that the canal was causing all kinds of underground water disruptions that if continued, would have eventually dried out the Everglades. Even so, some environmental damage was done and there is no going back. On the East coast of Florida, Orlando, which on that side was also near where the canal was being dug, suffered many sinkholes during the 1970's which is around when the canal project was cancelled. It was almost as though the whole city was being sucked under. So anyhow, I just find it interesting that this happened so close to that canal and have to wonder if it was the cause.

Hate to join in on criticizing someone's home at a time like this, but I must ask. What's on the windows? Cardboard? And why the yellow and red stickers? Work permits, or being condemned?

@Windancersong

Use/extend the firetruck or crane boom from a safe distance away. Some of these machines have boom capabilities of over 120'. Drop a rescue person with the cable of the crane or hook a boatswains chair to a firetruck ladder boom and descend into the hole. This would be my choice of recovery.

Last words before disappearing: "This house really sucks"

Treamors (Tremors)? Naw, this is like Donnie Darko.

Think about it.

Drag me to Hell..... except the hole didnt close back up

Tragic for everyone involved. Death by sink hole. And now their home is gone too.

His brother will probably take it really hard that he was unable to save him. So sorry for the entire family.

Goes to show how fleeting life can be - and this must have been a pretty scary death.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/sinkhole.htm

Sinkhole facts from the state itself.

Generally speaking karst terrains are not newsworthy items. Typically, it is only when a road or house happens to be located above developing karst features such as a sinkhole that headlines are made. Since much of Florida is karstic in nature, these same processes are continually taking place. As such, there is a certain degree of risk in living on karst. However, most people accept the risk as one price to pay for living in the sunshine state.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/feedback/faq.htm#1

Just remember when you make a dumb redneck backwoods jokes about Florida that most, MOST of the population is from somewhere else. Try looking in the mirror. Page 5.
http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/presentations/population-demographics/DemographicOverview_4-20-11.pdf

You come to this state and treat it like your own personal pleasure craft. Trash it, then go home and talk trash about us. Who are the rednecks?

Your edification for the day from a dumb Florida redneck.

The sinkhole didn't suck anything - it was gravity. Making the tragic death of a man into an excuse to write a tittilating headline is unethical and inexcusable, not to mention the 8th grade earth science fail.

The dumbing down of America.

This is somewhat of an odd quote from the article: "On Friday morning, Rogers refused to discuss the possibility Jeffrey Bush was not alive. “The sooner we can locate the victim and determine his status, the better.”

Ummm, I not there but can probably rule on this one. At first I thought it was a joke and were going to say that "sinkhole" was his girlfriend's nickname.

Creek Dog

But, they'll send 10 rescuers up a mountain to rescue one man who purposely did a stupid thing and gets his tit in a ringer and come back one rescuer short...

Did we just hear you volunteer?

Rescue missions are not delayed based on the motives of the person being rescued but the danger to the rescuers. When I was in the US Coast Guard and as a civilian Paramedic I can't begin to tell you how many dumb sh!ts I rescued. We used to have a clinical diagnosis "Too stupid to live". Even the stupid get rescued.

Journey To The Center of the Earth.

So sorry for the death and my condolences for family members. How horrible it is to lay in bed asleep, resting peacefully or whatever at night and be swallowed by the ground that way. It is definitely the last thing you could imagine could happen to you, ever.

"The sinkhole didn't suck anything - it was gravity."

No, that's a gloryhole. I don't know why you brought tits into it anyway.

They sure wrote the brother off kinda fast. This should have stayed a rescue mission till they found the body. They said they lowered 3D Equiptment into the hole to determine how to make it stable. What if the brother was injured and couldnt talk or make noise. How come they're not telling us how deep it is? No one threw lights into the hole? There's a roof structure above the hole, why not tie into it and lower a person or camera into the hole? As long as the rope is tied to the roof or a tree at a safe distance someone should have gone into that hole. At least let the brother do it if your too scared to.

Who needs those stinking Regulations anyway. A Perk Test - they did away with those 40 years ago.

This house (the blue one - article makes it look like the white house) looks to be at least 40 years old - City Inspectors back then signed off for a bottle of booze...contractors even knew their favorite brands. You know times are bad when 6 people have to live in a small house - my old home was this size, back then the economy was good, the hood was all single families, no one had to park on the street, now 12 years later, that hood looks like Hoarder Central - try and put 3 households in one home, they ain't paying for storage, so all the left over stuff goes in the yard.

Around 1965 we had a sink hole open up (in the State of WA) about half a mile north of our neighborhood, just above the small creek in the woods - it would have taken about 10 homes. I think it was related to an earthquake (maybe the April 29, 1965 quake).

Why would we blame guns when clearly this is the work of the hater dude, Jesus. (sar) I love when people go troll hunting, like a little kid taunting you from 2 blocks away. Mr. Bush probably had a gun for safety - he just forgot the basics, like a ladder, an axe, a fire extinguisher, a rope...doh!

Virgo, it just happens to be the commonly accepted name for the hole, for guess what, it did sink closer to the center of the earth. Kinda like the term "8th grade", when in fact, it should be 9th grade, as Kindergarten is the real first grade.

Your little education for the day, my friend.

@ j p patches pal 1.. just wanted to compliment your post. Funny stuff.

Hey God, you got the wrong Bush. He's in Texas.

The house is typical of old Tampa/Seffner/BFE/north of Broward/Palm Beach Counties, the sinkhole is typical of Florida, and the family is typical of where America is at today. Watch the video. What isn't typical is the dying part.

Love Knuckles Tattoo on the brother? Must be a Doctor of Love.

But the Family does deserve condolences.

Watch the video to get an idea of why sinkholes occur here. Or look it up for a more enhanced idea of the facts.

Poltergiest is my pick for "Movie It Reminds Me Of".

How is it too dangerous to send someone in? Tie them up with the appropriate harnesses and go in...or bring in a copter and have it hover above the hole (have people take the roof off in that area from above also via cables) and lower someone into the sink hole.

Ridiculous they haven't been able to get someone in there.

Sorry for this family, very tragic. Please do not forget what is happening in Louisiana. Extreme danger at any moment, major catastrophe if underground storage caverns collapse, sinkhole is growing. Quake activity on the rise, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

Florida is the natural disaster capital of the nation.

James-546195-1049965

How is it too dangerous to send someone in? Tie them up with the appropriate harnesses and go in...or bring in a copter and have it hover above the hole (have people take the roof off in that area from above also via cables) and lower someone into the sink hole.

Ridiculous they haven't been able to get someone in there.

#1.74 - Sat Mar 2, 2013 1:50 AM EST

James,

1 ton of dirt is something like two cubic yards. Very small. If they send someone in there and the walls collapse, he's a goner. Any attempt they make, can and will continue to make the walls collapse.

When some people think of this sink hole, they picture a nice smooth walled straight down drop whereas, it's up down and all around slowly caving in constantly. They will not send anyone in there.

In fact, they will probably never recover this guys body.

What a terrible way to go man.

Colormepurple, now that I think back you're right... 1982 is exactly the year things in Florida starting going down the crapper. Funny that's the year you say you moved to Florida, hmmmm. Now perhaps you'll move out so we Floridians can get to work undoing all the crap you non-natives have caused!

And RoadRunner, most houses in Florida a built on a cement slab and don't have floor joists. So in all likelyhood they never knew anything was wrong till the bed fell through the floor. 4-6 inches of cement can support a lot of weight without breaking. Most likely he might have heard a slighly hollow sound in the floor as the hole began to slowly open up under the bedroom. But once the hole reached a corner it was all over.

What a crappy way to get woken-up.

Creekdog, I don't know enough about the underground water in that area, but I know in the area closer to Ocala the underground river there will haul stuff away so fast that you'll never find it. I had a friend tell me that he was part of an experiment once where they put some markers or dye in a small sinkhole and found the stuff coming out in a large spring close to Orlando within a couple of days. Thats close to 40 or 50 miles away. So if there is any thing close to that kind of movement he will never be found unless he's still alive and hanging onto something that cant' get sucked away.

um, whoa..talk about karma?..

from roadrunner -

Somehow assault weapons will be to blame..

If the floor joists were properly tied with reinforcing plates as current code for new peer and beam homes requires the other guy might still be alive.. Bet they had heard creaking and had walls cracking and noticed tings going out of plumb days before the event.. The house was telling them something and they did not listen..

don't forget the sequester, too..

no more filbert

Virgo, it just happens to be the commonly accepted name for the hole, for guess what, it did sink closer to the center of the earth. Kinda like the term "8th grade", when in fact, it should be 9th grade, as Kindergarten is the real first grade.

Your little education for the day, my friend.

I wasn't talking about what you call the hole, Mr. Smug Dumbass, I was talking about the "sucking" (which doesn't actually exist in nature), something I'm sure you're actually qualified to pontificate about (unlike reading comprehension). And your kindergarten comment was not only a non-sequitur, it was stupid.

So yes, the dumbing down continues, and you are on the Home Team.

Exactly what I was thinking. "Terrifying" doesn't even begin to describe it. D:

I don't think he was terrified for long. Wonder what his karma was for such a thing to happen. Its almost funny.

My condolences to his family.

would have nightmares the rest of my life if I lived in the area.

Fawna says:

"Its almost funny"

You have a really screwed up sense of humor if you think this is funny. Way to stay classy.

That's what I was thinking... some of the crackheads that post on these disasters are rude and braindead. Wonder how they would react if it was their house or their family member that had this horrible freak thing happen to them?! Shame on you if you find such ignorant humor in this tragedy.

I'm so sorry for this young man and his family. What a horrible thing to have happen.

Sympathies to the family! What a terrifying thing to happen--and at a time when one is snug in bed!

Fawna (#4.2)--sometimes bad things happen to good people. It's not always about Karma.

I think Spring Hill is the sinkhole capital of florida.

OH, Wholly Crap, Julieann! Believe it or not, Fracturing (fracking) does not cause tooth decay, flatulence OR sinkholes. You are creating cracks in a porous sandstone formation, then pumping sand to prop the cracks open. You are NOT creating big holes in the ground. Go somewhere that they are drilling for gas (not so much oil in Ohio), and ask the people who live there. Why is there such a resistance to producing our own gas? Well, who is being hurt when we burn our gas instead of importing oil? Could it be maybe - the Arab countries? Or maybe coal mines, who are being squeezed out by power plants shifting to gas? But when you blame fracking for floods, drought and solar eclipses, things are getting a bit far out.

@Dr George

First off, when the frucking frackers give a COMPLETE list of all the individual chemicals that go into the frucking fracking fluid, I will trust that no pollution to the ground water will happen, until that time, they are frucking fraking polluters. WOW, pumping nice clean sand into the formations now? How about before the sand? Yeah, you frucking fracker proponents can never tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth because you don't even know the truth. If we could only put that fat pig Cheney against a wall, maybe we could get some REAL answers.

Second, Until the fed requires that ALL GAS AND OIL removed from the ground IN America REMAINS in America it doesn't matter how much is taken out, it's only going to make the oil/gas companies and the sell-out politicians rich. The companies that are raping and polluting America will just pack their bags and move on to someplace else when it all runs dry.

Julieann, you failed geography in school didn't you?

OK, purple, tell me something: you gonna scream about fracturing, which takes place about a mile underground - and the company has a very definite profit motive in NOT fracturing the cap stone formation above the strata that is being fractured - you don't want the gas (your desired product) escaping - kind of like opening the drawer of the cash register in a tornado - not a good idea.

So, you worry about fracturing a mile away contaminating water in a 200 foot deep well - but then you would drink water from that well, and it with a septic tank field a couple hundred yards away? That is exactly the situation you have at dozens if not hundreds of water wells - but nobody complains about that!

I still come back to my question - why do you have all these people (especially Hollywood types) who have decided they know all about fracturing and how terrible it is? Who has a dog in this fight? And I keep coming back to: who is losing money because of an abundance of American energy? And the answers to that question are not very good - Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and coal mining interests.

@Dr George

1. You always put your septic field down hill from your water well.

2. When you drill through the cap stone it's no longer a "cap" stone. It's like sticking a straw through full glass of water covered in cellophane and then blowing air or water into the glass. Where is the fluid going to go? That's right, around the straw to contaminate anything ABOVE the capstone.Sure you want to use that analogy?

3. I would rather have to worry about MY septic getting into my water than THEIR cancer causing fracking fluid or gas coming from my well water faucets.

4. This is the problem completely...WE DON"T KNOW HOW TERRIBLE IT IS, because the industry won't release the breakdown of chemicals used during the fracking process. I'm all for it as long as it doesn't destroy the aquifer in an area it being done, But sadly that isn't the FACT!

So riddle me this Doc...Why doesn't the industry get off their BS stance of "proprietary makeup" of their fracking soup and just tell us what is in it??? I'll answer for you...because it's POISON, that's why.

Sorry for the people involved in this bizarre incident. The rest of their lives will be affected. Their nights will last far longer and with less rest. As for so many comments, Many are very informative and definitely made by well educated people, familiar with the subject. Thank You for your valuable information you have submitted. You know who you are.

Of course many are sadly a full 180 from 'informed'. The 'Keynesian' educated (using the term loosely) so overwhelmingly prevalent in today's 'Collective' leaning society, remind me of the SNL skits that periodically depicted the 'Cone Heads'. When faced with any issue they could not easily comprehend, they All scurried around in chaotic 'Agreement'.

Doctor George - if the gas and oil were staying here in America, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, then you might have a point.

But it's not, so you dont have a point.

We're just as dependent on foreign gas & oil as ever, because the gas and oil companies are exporting their product because thats where they can make the most money.

If they flooded our market with their product, our costs would reduce dramatically...and they'd lose so much money it's not even funny. Oh sure, they'd still make a profit - just not as huge of one as they are now.

Reality bites...and we didnt even talk about the pollution side of the fracking...but hey, you dont live near a fracking site and you arent being poisoned, so what do YOU care...right?

Maybe you're an investor, and thats why you care about fracking and insisting it's prefectly fine...it's not causing any issues.

I mean, what could POSSIBLY go wrong by blasting sand, water and chemicals into the earth sideways?

Ahhhh now I get it! I knew it had to be either rich people, corporations, the republicans or Bush that caused this! Thank you for enlightening me.

colorme purple

You have just proved you know nothing of oil/gas wells or fracking.

Like a straw?? HAHAHAHA. Casing will have a mile of pressure testing cement long before any fracking occurred. And YOU LIE - ALL of standard fracking practices offer exactly what is in their product acroiss America, its the LAW! There are a few specialty wells where the Law protects the exact formula due to patent restrictions, that's ALL! Don't know how terrible??- REALLY? There have been over 20 millions frac procedures completed across this country since the 30s, show me one example where it has caused real harm to anyone. If oil could travel (as you suggest) outside the well (straw) you would see gas clouds and oil geysers all across America all the time where these wells are leaking, you can't find one because it can't happen, it doesn't exist! Of course, some wellheads do leak, but this dos not affect anything along the well as they leak only between the production zone, up the inside string and out the dognut, this is easily repaired with a new gasket at the well head and packer downhole.All this Fracking BS started with that comic documentary about fracking that claimed all those water taps were turned flammable; the truth is that ALL THOSE WATER WELLS contained methane gas from the day they were drilled, long before the oil companies even moved into their state! This is public record! All these water wells tapped into shallow migrating gas deposits on their own. Nothing to do with drilling or fracking.

Ken:

No point trying to tell these people facts - that's no fun, they know all they need to know about technology, taught by Yoko Ono and Dudley Moore. What took you and me many years to learn, they just absorbed by watching one movie - new, fantastic learning method. They probably know all about zombies and black holes, too.

Wish they would come by the gas patch where I live in West Virginia/Ohio - see people working and buying stuff, where they used to be unemployed due to steel imports from China. But small stuff like families having money to buy Christmas doesn't matter, in the great scope of Hollywood stars and their vast knowledge.

And support of Ken and the gas in water wells (or not) - in West Virginia, Kanawha Valley, there is a community called Burning Springs. Guess why? Back in Colonial days, settlers found that gas seeping out of the ground could be ignited by a campfire - so guess what they named the place? From there, they started capturing the gas, using it to boil salty water and refining salt - which is how the chemical industry in the Kanawha valley started - and I don't think that they were fracking back in 1740! But, as Gore would say, that is an inconvenient truth!

OK, this thread was informative, but I believe the cause of this sinkhole was the erosion of limestone or similar rock when the water table drops... right? Not drilling or fracturing the earth.

And yes, I agree that our great American oil and gas corporations COULD help out fellow, hard working Americans and drop the ridiculous price of gasolie, but that's just good old American GREED.

Once again, so sorry for this horrible freak thing that happened to this family.

becky:

Correct, real problem down there with pulling millions of gallons out of the ground - suck a sponge dry and it shrinks. But when people start blaming something that has no relation, just because they watched a movie, it gets me out of my tree and ramping around on the ground. 40+ years in the gas industry makes you kind of opinionated!

40+ years in the oil and gas industry make you nothing more than a shill.

No, it makes him more of an expert than couch engineers, such as yourself shellie.

God I love how you gas geeks want to spew your BS. And Ken, if your so knowledgeable then please post an EXACT list of every chemical injected during the process. The industry is so full of s#it they even have to have the Koch brothers buying jerkoffs to write books full of more BS and pass it off as truth. This all sounds like the great global warming debate where it will take mass killing of animals then mass human killings before the sheep will finally be forced to see the light. But frankly, I can only hope your children and family get to drink heartily from the well of poison. If there is justice then...

ColormePURPLE

Even though I am NOT involved with Fracing in ANY shape or form I can very easily obtain DETAILED information on what is used in fracking. Just phone up Halliburten, Schlumberger or Baker and ask for a MSDS Sheet on what they use, they will be happy to email you a copy. ITS LAW That an MSDS is available for ANYONE that works with or near any chemical, so Colorme get off your high horse and quit your propaganda BS lies AND GO LOOK FOR YOURSELF, you will find you look very stupid to those that actually know about these things.!

Spurious sinkhole claims were killing the insurance industry. People would see a crack in their wall or driveway, and file a sinkhole claim for the entire value of the house. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars (just in sinkhole claims) being paid out on policies that generated maybe 1/4 of that in premiums.

Whoever holds insurance on this house will be covered, because insurance companies are required to cover "catastrophic ground collapse" which actually damages the structure of the house.

For more info, myfloridacfo dot com has a good writeup. a Google search for "sinkhole claims florida "catastrophic ground collapse" " should turn it up at the top.

Not in all cases nhurst.. Citizens have been notorious about not paying out claims unless it has swallowed more than half of the home. They are most likely going to be SOL even with sinkhole coverage.....

Insurance companies will find a way to cheat people out of coverage, just as people will find a way to cheat insurance companies. What's so sad is this makes it so hard to file a claim and be reimbursed for damages when the claim is actual and real. Greedy people ruin it for honest people every time.

Really a tragedy - brother Jeremy is an extremely brave man to jump in to try a rescue. That must have been terrifying at night.

Limestone caverns with a water level that rises and falls with rain and pumping - covered by sand that quickly drains into the collapsing structure when a cave-in happens - not good news for the future of Florida real estate.

The sinkhole from Washington DC is swallowing the entire country, and there is no escape!!

Washington isn't a sinkhole. It's a giant toilet flushing.

Total IQ 75 75/3=25 each. Face it, America will be under Democratic control for many years to come so suck it up and stop whining.

Morning Denver

Washington is so full of @!$%# you will have to flush twice.

GM OkeeBoy and DB

...will have to flush twice.

wonder if Rid-X would work?

Okay Jack how warm it is down there today. GM

Hi Carol

It is soooo warm here that I had to go put more ice in the beer cooler 3 times just this morning, after all in the Caribbean it's already the weekend! Just one question: If I close the cooler lid, will the ice not melt as fast? ;*)

It is actually 90 F (not as much wind today either, so the chop on the water should ease some)and it is exactly12:15 pm - in about an hour, it'll be time to lay out the SCUBA gear and go see about finding something for the grill - snapper or mahi-mahi and an enjoyable evening, as the sun sets slowly across the Western Caribbean!

The weather is fine and bootiful and wish you were here (Jimmy Buffet song).

A guy named Bush in FL being sucked into the earth on the first day of sequestration after warnings that armageddon was coming. Coincidence? Next come the zombies.

Hey CT, it just took the payback to take awhile, that's all. Karma, or whatever. Too many tea baggers causing the state to dry up, huh?

You should be on the Shark article, miss negative

again i laugh at you SallyAnn thanks

It happens too much here in Florida condolence to the family

GM Carol SC and Rose.

In all the comments that Sally Ann with a Bunch of #s has made, I do not recall even one that was positive. - about anything. With her remarks, the "glass isn't even half full"; it's empty!

GM Rose at least you will not have to deal with fires. Now that is Karma... Jack you sure have that right I wish she would change her name to MISS NEGATIVE

GM Carol SC and Jack

nope not yet my neighbor is captain stupid almost set his and my house on fire and i agree with you Jack

Correct... She needs to go and play with a shark and do us all a favor.

i could see it now...chomp chomp chomp breaking news a troll got eaten by a great white shark and the parties begin

Didn't I just read somewhere the Great White is now a protected species....ummm just saying if you were to feed this individual to a Great White and she as toxic as you believe her to be, wouldn't that be poisoning the shark.. again just an observation

i wouldn't feed her to the shark she will be stupid enough to pet the shark

No wonder they're all Fruit cakes ... I'd go crazy too.

If there are small signs in advance of a sinkhole as you mentioned in a house, wouldn't you think those

2 guys should have had it checked. ???

They may have Cindy. I live in Spring Hill and my house was showing signs of one. I have a crack right at the point of my cathedral ceiling going halfway down my wall, a tile is cracking at entrace of doorway and it looks like the molding around my floor is slowly disconnecting from the floor of my house. Also have signs of nail pops on the ceiling and serious underminding underneath my house. Filed a sinkhole claim, they came out. Got the report back, all except for the last page that tells you if you have one or not. Unknowingly I showed a contractor it because to the average person it is hard to understand and he said it looks like I got 2 sinkholes on my property but they left out the last page that tells me if I do or not. Got 2 copies of this report too and they conveniently left it out both times. Went back to insurance company, got the last page, and they said they do not believe I have a sinkhole and it is all construction-related problems. The contractor said he had sinkholes repaired on homes with far less in a report. Not sure what to do. Some people are telling me to sue and get a second opinion, and on the other hand if I ever had to re-sell my house I have it documented that I do not have a sinkhole from the insurance company (I am fairly young and without kids yet). So...Who knows. Sometimes you can't win.

@RockCandy96

Get out now!!! Since you have a "so-called" clean bill of health from the insurance company, you can list without acknowledging ANY sinkhole activity. You don't want to stay in a home with a sinkhole problem (and most every area in Spring Hill is bad) because your home will have NO value and nobody will ever buy it. Fix it enough so it doesn't show any problems, and don't say another word about sinkholes until you have sold this problem to someone else. Since you have a report that doesn't SAY you have one or two, then you can claim you had it checked and all is OK.

If for some reason you must stay in your house, get the most reputable company in the Tampa Bay area (NOT affiliated with an insurance company) to give you another report along with a report of every home within a 1 mile radius that have known sinkhole issues (may scare the heck out of you). But you MUST get this resolved before your next renewal because whoever you have for insurance will most likely drop you completely or drop your sinkhole coverage leaving you with a worthless home.

I would advise you to get an attorney now, no matter what you decide to do, you will need them.

First, the Florida ovens shoot bullets at you, and then the Florida ground swallows you up. Sounds like a fun place to live. What is next, giant snakes? Oops, FL has those too. It just keeps getting better.

Seriously, sympathy to his family if he isn't found alive.

@colormepurple

My insurance already renewed and they did not drop me or raise rates. And I still have sinkhole insurance. This is through Citizens. We got this house cheap, it was a foreclosure and we fixed it up to be something beautiful so I really don't have any plans to sell right now. I think I will take my chances or maybe lawyer up like you said and fight for it to be stablized for piece of mind. Moving out of Spring Hill is not an option as family is there so no matter where I go in SH I am sure I will run into the same issue lol

@RockCandy96

Good for you that you didn't get dropped by Citizens. Don't miss that letter from them that they are giving your policy to the unfunded (crony) insurance companies. I got mine and they make you jump hoops to stay in Citizens. If you miss the deadline you are forced into the "crony" company that has NO MONEY to pay for claims.

Just went through my Citizens "forced" inspection and now they're pushing me up $800.00+ to $1,700+ more. This even after last year having to pay $300.00+ for a required Citizens inspection to keep my insurance from going up almost $2,000.. Almost $11,000 a year in just taxes and insurance to live in Florida??? For me, I'm done with Florida and their corrupt insurance industry both car and homeowners. Now, I just need to sell and get out of Dodge. Anyone looking to move to beautiful (HACK-HACK) Clearwater Florida???

"Fix it enough so it doesn't show any problems, and don't say another word about sinkholes until you have sold this problem to someone else."

Unbelievable. You would urge someone to commit fraud? We won't even discuss the lack of morality inherent in this statement.

Hey redondo!

If you have a sinkhole, and its not too big, you FILL IT IN. (with insurance!) Problem solved. EVERY time.

@shanaldo

You must not be a homeowner, because you are only partially correct. You may be able to "fill it in" with insurance money (if you have sinkhole insurance which most companies have dropped or don't offer) BUT you're stuck with a worthless house...NO problem solved.

I don't know about you...but I wouldn't give you $10.00 for a home over a known sinkhole, filled in or not.

The GEICO lizard has been sent into the hole to assess the damage.

What does a sink hole have to do with Governor Rick Scott?

They are both sucking Florida dry!

Yep, I lived in Orlando in the 60s and some of the 70s and we saw sinkholes all around even back then. I was told that a house I used to live in as a child was swallowed up by a sinkhole after we were gone. It doesn't make sense to me to build on totally unstable ground, and in my view sinkholes are but one problem with living in Florida. The flying, hissing giant cockroaches and the huge and hungry mosquitoes were bad enough even if you didn't consider the sinkholes. Then add the awful energy around some parts of the state and I think I will pass on going back.

Don't forget the pythons now too.

It's all because of Septic tanks. I think like eighty percent of spring hill home owners have septic tanks. Lye from soap, bleach, toilet bowl cleansers, draino, and who knows what else people put down their drains all contribute to the desolving of the Lime rock which is really the foundation of the land above. People with city sewers don't have this kind of problem unless they live next to someone with a septic tank. Anybody thinking of buying a house in florida remember that. Also the Chemicals people put on their lawns, and in florida people put a LOT and I mean a LOT of chemicals on their lawns, this also destroys the lime rock.

Tarzan Good post with far more info than the article. It would seem there is no end to poor planning and the results that come from the fast buck and the govt looking the other way.

First i chuckled when i read this..Then i thought you are probably right.They would consider this to be a bomb shelter..Lets raise the property tax.

That's what the local code inspector was there for - did they have the proper permits for creation of a sinkhole? Was it made with local materials and with union approval?

As long as those materials meet the Florida product approval and building they should be OK

There are No basements in florida. You don't dig a great big hole to build a house or add a room. The land is scraped of trees and brush, yellow sand about a foot deep is put on the ground, ree bar is put in and water pipes laid, cement poured. That's it. That won't cause a sink hole. The only really big hole that is dug is for an inground swimming pool.

Now that was the best this morning. Thanks Brooke

LOL that was a good one best post!!

Happens to the Hulk a lot. He's an angry drunk. :)

Suppose he doesn't wake up because he was smothered by the earth that fell in on him? Also, I believe the correct word is "hole", not whole. Unless of course the whole sink fell in on top of him, too.

Pathetic... a man is probably dead due to a freak accident and this is what we have?? A bunch of idiots. Have another drink, dummies. You are disgusting.

Aquifer depletion is right. Artesian wells use to be common place through out Florida, it took years before they started capping them. Now with the population growth, it's not looking so good. To many Golf Courses, man made canals, and people, over development in Orlando, fun while it lasts. Another year and moving back to Pa., oops, coal mine, oil well sink holes..

Not to mention the fact that a lot of the state is built on drained and backfilled swampland, which isn't very stable.

As with all natural resources, it's not a lack of resources, but too much demand.

We need to dump "gun control" as a political crisis and look at "population control" to help this country get back onto its feet.

was waiting for some troll to flip this to politics

I agree Veteran...Selective birth would be nice. There are a lot of idiots posting today that prove the gene pool has over-stretched it's boundaries.

gofins:

was waiting for some troll to flip this to politics

Not politics, reality. Now go drink your kool-aid. And, typical of the liberal mentality, when you don't have an intelligent argument, resort to name-calling. Very mature.

"It's hard to place your hand over your heart when it's extended waiting for a handout" - veteran55