Sinkhole in Lake City...........

[Tony Falotico]

How would you like to wake up to this !!

This sinkhole opened up yesterday (about 10 miles west of my place) and has been growing since. At noon today it was approximately 200 ft by 75 ft, still growing, estimated at 100 ft deep. They further estimate it is filling by approximately 10 million gallons per hour (not a typo or misprint).

The house was emptied yesterday, the foundation is ruined and will probably be condemned. Another sinkhole opened up this morning a short distance away in the front yard of a co-worker of mine. The second one is stable right now, but they don't know what will happen when they attempt to close the first one. When I spoke with him at about 5pm, they were sitting there watching it (not much else you can do) praying it would not swallow their home. It's not close enough to the home to be a danger right now, none the less they removed their valuables and some of their stuff this morning, and will be staying with relatives tonight. The area has been evacuated and the Sheriff's Dept is not letting anybody in.

[Tony Falotico]

some additional pic's as it continues to grow...........
http://www.lakecityjournal.com/show_rec.php?stories_id=685

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Wow,

That would be something to wake up to! We had one open up about 10 years ago, but it was nowhere near that size.

[Steve Ash]

I worked at Sea World, Orlando, the summer of '83 and remember the headlines one day told about a sinkhole opening up under a car dealership...I think it was a Mazda dealership, swallowing a bunch of cars. Kind of scary.

[Michael Ballent]

Oh man that stinks!!! Is this stuff being covered by insurance?

[Donnie Raines]

Oh man that stinks!!! Is this stuff being covered by insurance?

Not sure of the guidelines in that state....but as a general rule...no it would not be covered. Sinkholes, mudslides, erosion, sinking and earthquakes(we could throw in volcanic interference to) are not covered under a traditional policy. Earthquake damage can be added to your policy, but not the the other's.

Again, each state varies....


One thing I see on regular basis is settleing on new foundations(those small cracks). Often people feel that this should be covered under a homeowners policy...and it is not. It falls into the above category. It makes for some interesting conversation.... :D

[Michael Perata]

I flew from Atlanta to Miami a bunch of years ago and was amazed at the number of depressions (nascent sinkholes?) you could see from the air.

We have them in San Francisco all the time when a water main breaks.

Earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, sinkholes. Where is it safe to live?

[Jerry Clark]

We have not had much problem in So. Calif. with sink holes-- That is a bad one-- 100 feet deep? Here, the whole hill slides away from all the rain, and takes the houses with it.

[Tony Falotico]

I worked at Sea World, Orlando, the summer of '83 and remember the headlines one day told about a sinkhole opening up under a car dealership...I think it was a Mazda dealership, swallowing a bunch of cars. Kind of scary.

Steve, I remember that, and if my memory serves me correctly, didn't it swallow a brand new Porsche ??

Thursday update: the tree in the first pic' was swallowed about 8:00 am today. The out building is undermined about 5 ft, it'll probably go soon, if it hasn't already. The fellow who works with me -- the second hole is about 200 ft from his home, about 1200 ft from the main hole, and growing at a much slower rate. This morning it was about 25 ft round, but only 10 ft deep.

Thanks for the info Donnie, I'll check with my agent tomorrow. Even though I'm ten miles away from this one, there have been way too many of 'em since the summer hurricanes.

[Ken Gartin]

We just moved to Fort White from Lake City a few months ago...
haven't seen the sinkhole yet!

[Tom Mullane]

I guess they can always stock it with Bass and open a fishing camp... LOL
That was cold... but had to add a little levity to the situation...
Man.. thank goodness we don't have to deal with that here in MD... we have had a couple of sink holes but nothing that bad... and none in our area at all.... the worst was actually on the center divider of a highway... now that is scary....

[Norman Hitt]

Those things are Scary, & depending on the location can have many different causes. We've got one about 25/30 miles west of us near Wink, Tx, that originally, appeared overnight and was initially Larger than the Fla one is now, (about 250' diameter & 25' deep, & has made the Nat'l & lcl news several times. It is still growing after several years, and has swallowed a paved road, oil & gas lines that have had to be shut off, and is now over a quarter mile in dia, (if I remember the latest), and they're not even sure how deep it is as it's too dangerous to get close enough to measure it's depth. Last estimate was 250' deep, and they're not even sure that is close. They recently formed a high powered group of Engrs, Geologists, etc. to study & evaluate the problem & any possible action to stabilize it. Several major Oil Companies have joined in on the funding and engineering personnel to add to the group.

[Steve Ash]

Yep Tony, that is the car dealership...I'm glad you remembered it too cause I couldn't recall what type of car it was, just that it was expensive. $$$$