November 25, 2024 06:14 AM

The Villages Florida Sinkhole Reopens to 65 Feet Wide, 65 Feet Deep Between Two Homes Forcing More Residents to Evacuate While Filling Is Underway

The Villages Florida sinkhole that opened up between two homes seven days ago is now estimated to 65-foot-wide, 65-foot-deep after reopening Wednesday.

According to Orlando Sentinel, although the Villages Florida sinkhole has been filled with about 22 truckloads of dirt already, engineers are monitoring the deep hole for the next couple of days or so before permanently closing it.

"Mother Nature is Mother Nature, and sinkholes are pretty hard to predict," Gina Lambert, spokeswoman Villages Public Safety Department spokeswoman Gina Lambert said. "There's no cause, per se, that you can hang your hat on."

Since the opening of the large sinkhole, the residents near it, especially the owners of the two homes, were asked to evacuate the area as safety precaution.

From Skywitness 9, the two homes appeared as though they were about to be swallowed by the massive hole, and the ground is notably collapsing and sucking the yard between the said properties.

"Underneath the driveway there is no soil there yet, the driveway is still standing," Project Manager Rich Kay said Saturday.

Earlier, crews said that they had worked on a smaller sinkhole in the property, however because of the gushing rainwater a second sinkhole - a larger one - opened up.

Smaller sinkholes reportedly developed in the area since last week and engineers have been busy working on the problem since then.

Though authorities managed to fill in the large sinkhole over the weekend, it reopened on Wednesday and reportedly collapsed about 10 additional feet deep.

More residents were then asked to evacuate the area while repair crews are looking for a way to quickly solve the problem.

"They have the whole area blocked off, quite a big area," Joe Flynn, resident of Poinciana Village, about two miles from the sinkhole, said. "[Residents] don't quite understand why they [repair crews] haven't been able to fix it."

Nevertheless, repair crews are confident that they can spare the properties in no time by filling in the Villages Florida sinkholes.

"We had already started the process when the sinkhole happened on Saturday," Meredith Tucker of Helicon Property Restoration said. "When you see a sinkhole this large, the houses are typically demolished, but we were able to save it through this process."

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