Photo:Todd Pratt/Hillsborough County via AP
Todd Pratt/Hillsborough County via AP
A sinkhole in Florida has opened for the third time — 10 years after it killed a man while he slept.
In a statementposted on its websiteon Monday, Hillsborough County officials said they “were on site” in Seffner, a Tampa suburb, to “determine the extent of the void,” which was a “reopening of a previous sinkhole on the site from 2013.”
Jon-Paul Lavandeira, director of the county code enforcement department in Hillsborough County, told theAssociated Pressthat the homes around the hole don’t currently “appear to be in any danger."
Back in 2013, the sinkhole in Seffner claimed the life of Jeffery Bush, 37, while he was sleeping inside his home, according to the AP.
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The victim’s house was demolished after his death and fencing was erected to attempt to contain the hole, which opened again in 2015, per the AP. It was then filled up with a blend of gravel and water to attempt to prevent further damage.
Lavandeira told the AP the sinkhole will likely reopen again down the road. “This is Mother Nature,” said the official. “This is not a man-made occurrence.”
TheUnited States Geological Surveylists Florida as one of the seven states where sinkhole damage occurs most frequently.
According to the agecny, sinkholes are most common in areas where the bedrock beneath the ground’s surface is made of “carbonate rock, limestone, salt beds, or rocks.”
“As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground,” per the USGS.
Though most sinkholes tend to be on the smaller side, the wider they get, the more damage they can do.
source: people.com
