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 whether a water line break is responsible or the deep void is a naturally occurring sinkhole.
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.
Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
