Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sinister sinkhole in south Florida
This huge sinkhole in Land O’ Lakes, Fla., that started out the size of a swimming pool Friday morning on its way to swallowing a boat and destroying two homes prompted officials to evacuate about a dozen homes in the area. A sinkhole under one of the houses was stabilized in 2014, county records show.
MIAMI — A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow in Florida swallowed a boat, destroyed two homes and prompted officials to evacuate residents from about a dozen homes Friday.
Video showed the 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 percent of another home, said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County’s assistant county administrator for public safety.
By Friday afternoon, the hole stretched up to 250 feet wide and 50 feet 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.
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.
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.