Florida Sinkhole Near Disney World Forces Evacuations of 35 Guests
A resort near Walt Disney World in central Florida was the site of a 60-foot-wide sinkhole forcing the evacuation of several families as a three story house collapsed and another one slowly sank.
Guests at the Summer Bay Resort in Clermont, around 10 minutes from the world famous park called that authorities when the houses began to shift and windows began to break, authorities said all 35 guests were able to make it safely out.
The crater swallowed one building, Lake County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Tony Cuellar said. The evacuation started after 10:30 p.m., when a guest told a security guard about a "window blowing out," resort president Paul Caldwell told WFTV.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The guests were moved to others rooms until authorities determine if guests will be able to retrieve their belongings.
Sinkholes seem to be a recurring theme in the Sunshine State with numerous such instances taking place this year alone. Most notable recent sinkhole occurred back in March when a man was sucked into one while he was in his bedroom.
Jeff Bush fell a sinkhole that appeared underneath the bedroom of his suburban Tampa home. Relatives tried desperately to save him before they were forced to evacuate the residence.
"I heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house," Jeremy Bush, the man's brother, told WFTS at the time. The sinkhole measured 100 feet wide and was fifty feet,
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection revealed that sinkholes are common occurrence in the sunshine state due to the makeup of material below the Earth's surface.
Beneath Florida's ground is bedrock that is composed of limestone that can be eroded away by acidic groundwater, which hollows out a hole that will cause the surface to collapse once the void becomes too great.
