Sinkhole that swallowed sleeping man reopens for third time in Florida, officials say
A sinkhole that swallowed a man as he slept in 2013 has reopened for the third time, according to Florida officials.
Officials with Hillsborough County responded to a call about a sinkhole in Seffner at around 4:45 p.m. on July 10, Jon-Paul Lavandeira, division director for code enforcement with Hillsborough County, told McClatchy News.
The area where it opened is blocked off with two fences, and no one is allowed inside, he said.
The sinkhole first opened in 2013 under Jeffrey Bush’s bedroom as he slept, according to the Associated Press. Crews never recovered his body, according to the outlet.
After the sinkhole opened, county officials condemned the structures in the area, Lavandeira said. There were three parcels on the land surrounding the sinkhole.
County officials blocked off the area, and the sinkhole reopened for a second time in 2015, he said. Engineers remediated the sinkhole by filling it in with gravel and liquid to seal it.
This is the third time the sinkhole has opened in 10 years, Lavandeira said. It’s about 12 feet by 12 feet and around 10 to 12 feet deep, he said.
An engineer was scheduled to evaluate the site on July 11. Lavandeira said there was no threat to neighboring homes.
Sinkholes form when water dissolves surface rock that sits beneath soil, according to National Geographic. When rainwater collects in cracks in the rock, the rock slowly dissolves and the cracks widen, causing the ground above to become unstable and collapse. The collapses can often happen suddenly.
Florida is prone to sinkholes because the surface rock is made up of limestone, which is porous, according to the Florida-Times Union. Dirt, clay and sand sitting on top of this rock can become heavy and cause the rock to collapse into a sinkhole, according to the outlet. Sinkholes can occur naturally or be triggered by events, such as heavy rainfall, drought after heavy rainfall, tropical storms and groundwater pumping, according to the outlet.
A memorial to Jeffrey Bush sits outside the fenced-off area where the sinkhole is located in Seffner, according to Lavandeira.
Bush, 37, loved fishing and video games, his obituary says.
His brother, Jeremy Bush, who was home when the sinkhole opened in 2013, jumped in and “clawed through the dirt” to try to save his brother but was unable to find him, USA Today reported.
The ground was still collapsing around Jeremy Bush when rescuers arrived and pulled him out, the outlet reported.
Engineers lowered a microphone into the hole to see if they could detect sounds from Jeffrey Bush, but the hole collapsed a second time and sucked the equipment in with it, according to USA today. His body was never found.
Seffner is about 15 miles east of Tampa.
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