Backyard Sink Hole in Swallows Up two Florida Homes

A sinkhole opened up in the Central Florida coastal city of Dunedin Thursday which resulted in authorities evacuating residents from six homes. The city’s fire chief confirmed that no injuries have resulted due to the sink hole, which has yet to settle. As of the most recent report, the swallet has a diameter of 90 feet and a depth of 50.

One homeowner, Michael Dupre, said the problem started about 5.15am (9.15pm AEDT).
“It started swallowing everything around it. We were home. We were sleeping. My daughter woke us up,” he said. “She woke us up and saved us … We needed to get out of the house as fast as possible.”

One witness of the sinkhole opening up was 13-year-old Ashley Dupre who alerted her father of noises which she interpreted as someone banging on the door. He father quickly went to investigate the matter with his trusted rifle in tote. Upon inspecting the home for invaders, he found the screen room in the back was raised three feet up and knew instantly it was a sink hole.

“There was apparently some work being done to try to fill in what they thought was a sinkhole beneath the house the last couple of days,” Dunedin Fire Chief Jeff Parks said. “The owner woke up this morning at 5:40 when he heard noises on his back porch and went out and found the sinkhole at that point.”

Both Dupre’s home and that of a neighbor will likely require demolition. Safety crews were able to rescue the family’s boat, but that was as a preventative measure to keep its fuel from seeping into the groundwater. For now, they are standing idly by as the sinkhole expands. They report the ground in the surrounding area of the hole is dangerously unstable. The state of Florida is known for sinkhole problems.

On The Web:
2 houses likely lost because of Florida sinkhole
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/14/florida-sinkhole-dunedin-homes/3524877/