Sinkholes are unpredictable and can happen anytime, anywhere in regions afflicted by them.
Eyewitness News was in Apopka Tuesday when a massive sinkhole partially swallowed a home on West Kelly Park Road. The sinkhole is the third one in the last five years.
Experts told Channel 9’s Angela Jacobs that springs and other bodies of water can contribute to the forming of sinkholes. In the end, sinkholes are nearly impossible to predict.
Geologist David Wilshaw surveyed the sinkhole in Apopka and found even more depressions around the property.
He's worked on more than 2,000 cases of possible sinkholes and said the one that happened in Apopka is a “classic cover collapse,” which happens quickly, rather than over time.
Wilshaw said the homeowners would have had no warning.
“These cover collapse sinkholes are hard to see coming. You usually would not see any cracking to the house,” Wilshaw said.
Experts have tracked at least ten suspected sinkholes across Central Florida since Hurricane Irma hit last week.
“Florida is limestone everywhere, and it’s 3 miles thick underneath it, so there's lots of limestone, lots of holes in the limestone,” Wilshaw said.
Wilshaw said special tests using radar and drilling for soil samples can help developers assess risk, but the five - to six-figure cost puts it out of reach for individual homeowners.
Cox Media Group
