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Florida Sinkhole Leads To Evacuations

Florida sinkholes are not an uncommon occurrence lately, but one that opened up in a Tampa suburb over the weekend led to evacuations and drew onlookers from several towns. The hole collapsed a large ...
Florida Sinkhole Leads To Evacuations
Written by Amanda Crum
  • Florida sinkholes are not an uncommon occurrence lately, but one that opened up in a Tampa suburb over the weekend led to evacuations and drew onlookers from several towns.

    The hole collapsed a large section of earth in a neighborhood and took out quite a bit of the road, as well. Authorities said the hole grew to be about 30 feet deep and 120 feet across by Sunday. Four homes have been evacuated but there may be more if the situation becomes worse.

    “Out of nowhere the earth just went straight up in the air and exploded up in the air,” said Margaret Helmick, a local resident.

    Since 2010, there have been nearly 300 sinkholes open up around the state, which tends to have unstable land due to caverns beneath the limestone. Fortunately, many of them were injury-free.


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    Last March, however, a man was pulled into a sinkhole that opened up directly beneath his bedroom and was killed as it overtook the back part of his house. Officials said the hole went down at least 70 feet.

    “It swallowed his whole bedroom, his dresser — everything in his room is gone,” Jeremy Bush said of his brother, Jeffrey. “All I could see was the top of his bed. So I jumped in the hole and tried digging him out. I thought I could hear him screaming for me and hollering for me.”

    Image via Thinkstock

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