Tag Archives: Hillsborough County

Florida sink hole evicts church

More sinkholes in Florida in the same Floridan Aquifer that’s under us, this time evacuating a church. Maybe sinkhole safety should be important here, too.

WCTV carried an AP story today, Suspected Sinkhole Forces Church Move

Pastor Rick Shuck told WBBH in Fort Myers on Monday the sinkhole has caused uneven floors, cracks in the walls and a hole in the ground so large that a landscaper fell into it.

Shuck says they had to end Faith Community Church’s Sunday service early because “it’s just not safe anymore.” He says some cracks in the walls are a half-inch wide and part of the auditorium floor has dropped about 4 1/2 inches.

Geological engineers say it’s definitely a sinkhole. But the church’s insurance company sent engineers who determined there is no problem. So next month the two sides are heading to mediation.

That second picture above was taken in Lowndes County, showing printouts of analysis by a VSU professor of sinkholes under a yard in Lowndes County. And they’re under Michael McCormick’s shed (see picture on the right), and they’re in his garage.

The same Floridan Aquifer is underground here as in Florida. Perhaps something needs to be done about sinkholes right here in Lowndes County?

-jsq

Sinkholes in Florida, and in Lowndes County, Georgia

The sinkhole that formed under a man’s bed and pulled him in has made a lot of news in Florida, plus another one a few miles away. But the news seems to neglect why those sinkholes are forming. Could it be the same reason sinkholes are forming in Lowndes County, Georgia? And will the Lowndes County Commission do anything about that before we see news about somebody here falling into a sinkhole?

Will Hobson, Laura C. Morel and Jodie Tillman wrote for the Tampa Bay Times 1 March 2013, Seffner sinkhole 911 call: ‘Bedroom floor just collapsed’,

Jeremy Bush just went to bed when he heard what sounded like a car hitting the house. Then screams from his brother Jeffrey’s bedroom.

“Help me! Help me!”

Someone flipped the lights. Jeremy, 36, threw the door open, revealing a sight that defied belief: The earth had opened beneath his brother’s bedroom and was swallowing everything in it. The tip of Jeffrey’s mattress was the only thing left, and it was sinking into a churning sinkhole.

The Tampa Bay Times has a long series on what happened afterwards, rescue workers who didn’t find him, the demolition of the house, objects found, etc. They never quite get around to saying why the sinkhole was there. They first say (Shelley Rossetter 2 March 2013),

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