horror of sinkholes

Remember that blog of mine from December 10, 2011 titled "Good News, Bad News"?   It was about sinkholes here in Orlando, Florida.   Those mysterious holes that open up and gobble your car, sometimes trees, and yes, sometimes even your house.  

What a terrible thing to have happen.   Then it all happened again 6 months later to another home.   That was from my blog of May-4-2012 titled "Sinkholes and Hurricanes"?

This was a bad one and it looked as though they might lose the house but they got lucky.

They managed to fill the sinkhole in with lots and lots of sand which we just happen to have in abundance here in Florida.  Here is a picture after they managed to fill that sinkhole in.   I really don't like the looks of those large cracks in the sand.

All's well that ends well as they say.   Then less than 4 miles away another sinkhole opened up.   This was on Monday, May 12, 2012.  The red label B in the picture is the location of the large sinkhole described above.   The red label A is the location of the most recent sinkhole on Monday.

Hard to believe that anything like a sinkhole could happen in this scenic pastoral setting.   Wouldn't you just love to live here?   Of course you would.    The house on the left in the picture above is the one that had the misfortune of a sinkhole in their front yard.   So you say "Where is the sinkhole?".   Well, this pictures was taken in April of 2011, about 1 1/2 years ago.   Just continue to scroll down to the next picture.

So here is the scenario, you take your son to school one morning and everything is fine but when you return home you are greeted by this in your front yard.   That is the neighbors house in the background.   But the hole is definitely in your front yard.

How big will it get and how much will it cost to fill the hole in?   Good questions.

Here is an aerial photo of the area.   Just look at all of the lakes.   Looks like swiss cheese.   If you see a round lake in central Florida, it was probably formed by a sinkhole.   Could someone's house be sitting at the bottom of one of these sinkholes that filled with water and is now a lake?   It's possible.    California has earthquakes which can open up the ground and swallow you up.   Here in Central Florida we have sinkholes where the ground opens up and swallows you up.   But the weather here is great and we have Disneyworld, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and the list just goes on and on.    Have a great day and if it is cold where you are living, the weather here in Orlando, Florida is quite pleasant.   As they say at Disney, "Have a magical day".    Lew