Florida Sinkhole 2017 Latest News: Sinkhole Grows Wider; Some Residents Refuse to Evacuate
Last week, a sinkhole swallowed up two houses in Florida. Now, it is reportedly growing, not deeper, but wider.
Remaining at 50 feet deep, the sinkhole has now reportedly grown to 235 feet in width, which is about 10 feet wider than its original size.
Two more homes in the Land O'Lakes neighborhood have been warned that they may need to evacuate. According to New York Daily News, the sinkhole's edges continue to collapse as there is nothing supporting the sandy soil as it dries out. Pasco County's assistant administrator for public safety Kevin Guthrie has announced that the residents have been instructed to gather their possessions and leave as soon as possible.
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Some residents, however, refuse to leave their homes despite the fact that the sinkhole continues to grow wider. One of them is 57-year-old Patty Camunas, as reported by ABC News.
Although she is admittedly nervous about the whole thing, she insisted that she would stay in her home unless the sinkhole completely devours it.
Camunas said: "Where are you going to go? There are sinkholes all over Florida. Unless something happens that the sinkhole takes my house, I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."
She was at work on the Friday morning that the sinkhole swallowed the house a couple of hundred feet away from hers. Initially, Camunas and her family evacuated, but they returned on Saturday.
As reported on National Geographic, Hofstra University geology professor Robert Brinkmann, who has been studying the effect of sinkholes in urban and suburban areas for many years, explained that Florida's landscape is vulnerable to sinkholes as the state is situated over carbonate rock that is mostly made up of dolostone and limestone.
The expert also stated that although it does not receive as much attention when it comes to scientific studies, sinkholes are one of the most hazardous phenomena in the planet.
