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Subscribe to RSSA new 12-feet wide and 5-feet deep sinkhole has opened up between two homes in Seffner, Fla., just miles away from the crater that swallowed a man as he slept. WFLA's Peter Bernard reports.
"Florida is famous for bugs, alligators, pythons, hurricanes and now sinkholes," said Larry McKinnon, a Hillsborough sheriff's office spokesman. "I think our salvation is that for most of the time, our weather is picture-perfect."
Arthur said February is usually when the state is at its driest, but it's also the start of the rainy season. Acidic rain can, over time, eat away the limestone and natural caverns that lie under much of the state, causing sinkholes. Both extremely dry weather and very wet weather can trigger sinkholes, he said.
"An extensive drought can cause soil and sediment over a cavity to be extremely dry and collapse," said Arthur.
On the other hand, following Tropical Storm Debby in 2012, dozens of sinkholes formed in counties north of Tampa because of the rain.
In Hillsborough County, an area particularly susceptible to sinkholes, 37-year-old Jeff Bush was killed last week when a hole opened up underneath his bedroom. Engineering experts have said it is too dangerous to retrieve Bush's body, so they demolished the home and filled the hole with gravel.
Hillsborough County is in a moderate drought, but engineers and county officials don't know exactly why the sinkhole formed in Seffner, and said they will likely never know.
The county has had 1.56 inches of rainfall since Jan. 1; it usually averages about 5.41 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
In Pinellas County, about 30 miles away from Seffner, fire-rescue workers in the community of Palm Harbor said they asked two people to evacuate a home after the residents reported "extensive cracking on the interior and exterior of the home." A county building inspector said the home was safe to live in, but the homeowner was seeking an engineer's opinion.
Arthur said he looked at 50 years of data and found that there is usually an uptick of reported sinkholes in February, with an increase until about July, when activity tapers off. December and January have typically low sinkhole activity.
Florida tracks naturally-occurring sinkholes and other ground collapses following a busted water main, development and groundwater pumping for crops.
In 2010, strawberry farmers in eastern Hillsborough County pumped water from the aquifer onto their crops during cold weather so that the water would freeze on the crops, creating a layer of ice that protects the berries.
So much water was pumped that more than 65 sinkholes opened in the area and wells went dry.
"When they take water out of the ground it's like taking air out of a balloon," said Bill Fernandez, a Florida sinkhole repair expert. "When you suck water out of the ground, you change the hydrostatic pressure underground and that's what can cause sinkholes."
Arthur added that moving a lot of dirt around for development can also trigger sinkholes. On Sunday in Largo, a failure in a pipe in a mall's stormwater control system under the parking lot caused the ground to collapse.
"There are a lot of variables," said Arthur. "Sinkholes are naturally occurring. Regardless of human activity they would occur."
Luis Echeverria / AP
A look at some of the most amazing sinkholes around the world.
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cause florida sucks
Can we have one open up in DC
Yes, please.
Unfortunately it would be difficult to have one under the White House and Congress since below those buildings are humongous 'Doomsday' survival facilities--so no void spaces like sinkholes darn.
Sinkhole vs underground bunker - bet on the sinkhole everytime.
Sinkholes.. another reason why not to move to florida
Great idea...........right under Boner's office
simple solution? fill em back in with things we don't need. you know......lawyers, politicians, illegals....
Liked your comment however disagree with the illegals, we need them to run our laundries in hospitals, build our buildings, pick our crops, pack our meats work in our rendering plants and the myriad of other horrible jobs they do cheaply because Americans won't do them or if they do they won't do them as well. (been there done and seen that)
Working in the construction field used to be done by tradesmen. Now illegals have decided that trade would be better off if it was a cash paying job, along with the General Contractors and Sub Contractors. The only one taking the beating it the new home owner. Not all cracks are caused by sink holes! We need illegals like we need sink holes!
Where would Romney get his grounds keeper?
With any luck, all of Florida will sink!
Or the seas can rise (see global warming). Same difference. If the caps melted that would raise sea levels 200 feet and Florida would all but disappear save a few islands by Orlando---Disney Islands.
So see there is some advantages to allowing unbridled CO2 production and later CH4 releases. We get rid of some low life too.
Too many people in Florida. Same problem with the new Floridians as with the folks out west. They come here believing their property should be like they had it up north. So they scrape off all the native plants that are designed for Florida's heat and climate. They plant turf lawns and try to reproduce the golf course look. This requires tons of water as the underlying sand drains the water too fast for the grass. Lawn sprinkler installation is a huge business in Florida. But much of it is lost to sidewalks and driveways which drain to the ocean or gulf. Solution: pump more water. So the water leaves hollow caves which fall in taking houses down, or near the coast salt water infiltrates into the drinking supply to fill the voids. And what is Florida's gubmint trying to do ? clear more land, to build houses to sell to the damyankees because they believe that is "the economy". So get ready, It's only going to get worse.
Bingo....born and raised in Florida....it's all about overbuilding and tapping water supplies..............
fracking???? "when water is taken out of the ground........."
gee wonder whats gonna happen here? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Fracking? No, think agriculture, communities, etc.
Is the Government going to name them?
Is this Bush's fault or Obama's success?
People build where they can despite tha dangers, because they know either their insurance will pay, or the government. Look at Calif. All the houses built on the side of mountains - neither earthquakes, landslides or fires keep them out. then look at all the people who build their homes right along the ocean, where there are hurricanes. No common sense.
Bush ...... wasn't Jeb like the King of fla ?
Half of this article is a lot of garbage, it is true that sinkholes are caused both an abundance and lack of aquifer water, (water, the new oil), however there is one thing missing, look at the amount of strip malls, developed roads, town centres, stripped land that has been left fallow, human activity in homes developments, and such, this water is being caught in catch basins and drained right into the streams and rivers and away from the land underneath, result hydrostatic pressure is minimized and limestone, which is a weak aerated 'rock' collapses. This development was approved by local jurisdictions without any thought for its consequences in order to make money from people who retired here, we should be holding these jurisdictions accountable, yes sinkholes do occur however we are exacerbating the problem and now people are dying.
It did mention water use and development....
I always thought it would be California that sank, guess Florida will be the first.
California sink? I do hope you're just making a joke...
It's all apart of the Sequestration Apocalypse Obama has been warning us about. Next it will be the ocean pulling homes into the water followed by clouds sending homes into the atmosphere. Incredulous... :)