60-foot hole opens in Florida trailer park, causing evacuations
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla.-- About 20 residents in six homes at a mobile home park along Florida's Gulf Coast were evacuated Wednesday after a 60-foot-wide, 35-foot-deep hole opened in the ground.
The residents at the Tarpon Shores Mobile Home Park in Tarpon Springs were taken to the park's nearby clubhouse as a precaution while officials take a closer look at the hole, said city spokeswoman Judy Staley.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that authorities were investigating if the deep hole is a naturally occurring sinkhole.
CBS affiliate WTSP reported Pinellas County Utilities crews are working to divert water flow from a broken 30-inch sewer force main. To reduce pressure on the water force main, all residents east of Lake Tarpon and north of East Lake Woodlands are being asked to avoid unnecessary use of water.
Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are underground caverns of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.
Major Jeff Young, a Tarpon Springs police spokesman, said an existing sinkhole opened up in the same location six weeks ago.
In March 2013, a man in nearby Seffner disappeared when a sinkhole opened up under his bedroom. His body was never recovered.