Two houses in The Villages area are in danger after a sinkhole opened up near one of them.
The houses are on Chalmer Terrace, near St. Charles Place. One home was evacuated, but the people in the other home are out of town.
Officials put the sinkhole at 20x20 and 35 feet deep. It appears the sinkhole has stopped growing, and the homes can be spared.
All night long crews have been bringing in trucks, one after the other, as they work to fill a massive sinkhole here that opened up without warning Saturday.
Giovanni Velocci said his day started with his morning walk.
"This morning I got out about 20 to seven, everything looked normal," Velocci said.
But in the 1.5 hours he was gone, a massive sinkhole opened up right across the street from his home.
When I came back about 8:25, the tree that was next to the house, I don’t see no tree and I thought somebody stole the tree,” Velocci said.
Velocci called the fire department and then noticed that a man was inside the home right next to the sinkhole.
"There was somebody inside the house, I went to see him. He said he had no water," Velocci said. "I said you gotta get out of the house because something is wrong here."
Neighbors said the people who own the house on the other side of the sinkhole have been out of town for weeks.
The project manager for the company now trying to fill the sinkhole said those homeowners noticed some ground giving way back in January.
Crews have been working for the last two weeks to stabilize the area.
"We were working on it yesterday," said Rich Kay, project manager. "But the magnitude of what we're seeing here today, even through the engineering testing and what not, we had no idea."
Somehow, the homes on both sides of the sinkhole remained intact.
Kay said it appears the ground around this sinkhole has stabilized, but he wasn't sure how long it would take to fill the sinkhole. Crews worked through the night and continue to work Sunday morning.
What causes sinkholes?
Sinkholes are depressions or a collapse of the land surface as the limestone below cracks and develops fractures. Acidic waters seeping through the soil lead to the breakdown over long periods of time.
While these types of events often occur after a high accumulation of rainfall in a brief period of time, they can also take place in extremely dry conditions, as the water table below the surface drops or dries out.
Sinkhole Warning Signs
There are several signs you can watch for that may lead to the formation of a sinkhole:
- Fresh exposure on fence posts, foundations and trees that result when the ground sinks
- Slumping, sagging or slanting fence posts, trees or other objects
- Doors and windows that fail to close properly
- Ponding: Small ponds of rainfall forming where water has not collected before
- Wilting of small, circular areas of vegetation, because the moisture that normally supports vegetation in the area is draining into a developing sinkhole below the surface
- Turbidity in water in nearby wells
- Structural cracks in walls, floors and pavement
- Cracks in the ground surface.
Think you might have a sinkhole?
If you think you have a sinkhole on your property:
- Mark and secure the hole. Keep children and pets away.
- If the hole is directly affecting the house, stay outside of the dewlling.
- Call your property insurance adjuster and report it immediately.
- If the sinkhole causes extensive camage, contact your county's Office of Emergency Management.
If a sinkhole opens in a nearby road:
- Call the local law enforcement agency immediately.
- If the road is private, repair is the responsibility of the landowner or the property owner's association.