NEAR LAKELAND, Fla. (WSVN) — A Central Florida community is dealing with a massive sinkhole that opened up in their neighborhood and sent crews scrambling to keep it from growing.
Officials said the ground gave way and began to sink near Lakeland, Friday afternoon.
“It’s kind of scary, because you don’t expect it, just like so quick, you know? Like, next to houses, even,” said area resident Sandra Benavidez Carpenter.
A bird’s-eye view shows the gaping sinkhole, which officials said stretches 75 feet wide and 120 feet deep.
It shut down part of Scott Lake Road, just south of Fitzgerald Road, south of Lakeland.
The hole is causing traffic trouble for residents, as led to the closure of a main road.
“Because of the traffic running the roadway and what vibration can do to a sinkhole and cause it to collapse further,” said Jay Jarvis, Polk County’s director of roads and drainage.
Neighbors said they pass by this location every day. All of a sudden, they noticed a small hole.
“One day before, like, we saw it forming, but I thought it was just part of the – they’re building a new neighborhood, so I thought it was part of it, like a lake or retention pond, kind of,” said Benavidez Carpenter, “and then today, all of this happened. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. It was a sinkhole.'”
Jarvis believes the sinkhole that has engulfed a piece of private property is linked to recent work being done.
“We are aware that there’s a well drilled in this area, and we’ve been told that when the well was being drilled, about 180 feet, they hit, broke through something, a hard layer,” he said, “and then it was pretty much a void down to, like, 300 feet.”
Some neighbors are getting flashbacks from a similar situation back in 2006, when a massive sinkhole swallowed part of a main road.
“Fifteen years ago or so, there was a huge one on the other end of the lake that drained almost the entire lake,” said an area resident.
Fire rescue officials said there are no mandatory evacuations in place, and no structural damage has been reported.
County officials said the private developer is moving equipment and materials to get the sinkhole filled.
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