Florida sinkhole: Massive hole between two homes is plugged
Florida sinkhole: A huge sinkhole opened up and threatened to gobble up two homes in central Florida. But by Sunday, crews had managed to fill the sinkhole.
Florida sinkhole: A huge sinkhole opened up and threatened to gobble up two homes in central Florida. But by Sunday, crews had managed to fill the sinkhole.
Two homeowners in the Villages, a sprawling retirement community in Florida's Sumter, Lake, and Marion counties, are now breathing a sigh of relief.
A massive 50-foot wide by 60-foot deep sinkhole had opened up between two homes. The hole extended under one driveway and had gobbled up a chunk of the front yard.聽
One of the homeowners had hired Helicon Property Restorations to stabilize and fill a smaller sinkhole two weeks ago, and the crew had almost completed the work. But it rained Friday night and a much larger sinkhole appeared overnight and continued to expand.
Workers spent Saturday dumping 15 truckloads of grout into the hole and "hadn't put a dent in it," Battalion Chief Pete Carpenter of The Villages Fire Rescue told the Sun Sentinel.
"It's just continuing to grow," he said.
But by Sunday, workers had successfully filled the hole with 40 truckloads of sand and cement and were expected to finish the landscaping work on Monday.
Sinkholes are common in Florida. They're so common that the state has county-by-county maps detailing their locations. The 2008 Sumter County map, where The Villages sinkhole appeared, includes at least five sinkholes more that 200 feet in diameter.
What's the geology behind Florida sinkholes? Last year, 海角大神's Liz Fuller-Wright wrote about them after a sinkhole opened up near Disney World.