GIANT SINKHOLE SWALLOWS TWO FLORIDA HOMES, BOAT,
MIAMI — A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow in Florida has swallowed a boat, destroyed two homes and prompted officials to remove residents from about a dozen homes Friday.
Dramatic video showed a home in Land O’Lakes, north of Tampa in Pasco County, collapsing into the hole Friday morning. It quickly engulfed one home and a boat and then consumed about 80 per cent of another home, said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County’s assistant county administrator for public safety.
By Friday afternoon, the hole stretched up to 76 metres wide and 15 metres deep, and threatened to damage a third home, Guthrie said.
Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told reporters that no one was home when crews responded to a call about a “depression” under a boat in the backyard of a house in Lake Padgett Estates in Land O’Lakes. Within minutes, he said, “the hole opened up” and the boat fell in.
Firefighters were able to get two dogs out of the home and retrieve some belongings before the first home started collapsing into the quickly expanding hole. No injuries have been reported. Sheriff Chris Nocco said that within roughly nine metres of the sinkhole, the ground was soft underfoot and felt like it was moving.
“Walking down the street, you can see in people’s eyes the anxiety level. They’re fearful,” Nocco said.
Eleven homes were evacuated, including the two destroyed. County property records show there was a sinkhole at the property where the first house was swallowed up, and that it had been stabilized in 2014.