Why florida has sinkholes

As a homeowner or business owner, it is important to know the common signs of sinkholes in Florida. Most sinkholes give early warning signs before they create become a serious threat. Look for the common signs of sinkhole activity such as:. If you notice any of these signs, give us a call.

We can inspect your issue to see if it is a sinkhole and repair it if necessary. We offer sinkhole repair for the residents of Florida.

Our services include compaction grouting and void filling. Foundation Professionals of Florida has the skills and experience for all of sinkhole repair needs. Our technique will support and stabilize the soil on your property to give you extra protection against sinkhole activity in Florida.

Contact us today if you need an estimate. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sinkhole Zones in Florida Zone 1 Yellow : This region consists of exposed or thinly-covered carbonate rocks.

The state is largely underlain by porous limestone, which can hold immense amounts of water in underground aquifers. As groundwater slowly flows through the limestone, it forms a landscape called karst, known for features like caves, springs and sinkholes. The water in aquifers also exerts pressure on the limestone and helps to stabilize the overlying surface layer, usually clay, silt and sand in Florida.

Sinkholes form when that layer of surface material caves in. The collapse can be triggered by a heavy overload, often caused by a downpour or flooding, or when water gets pumped out of the ground.

When the dirt, clay or sand gets too heavy for the limestone roof, it can collapse and form a sinkhole. Sinkholes are caused naturally but they can be triggered by outside events. Although sinkholes are formed naturally, they can be triggered by heavy rainfall, drought followed by heavy rainfall, tropical storms and human activity.

The most common actions by humans that cause sinkholes are heavy pumping of groundwater to spray on oranges and strawberries during freezes to keep them from being damaged, well drilling, excavating, creating landfills, leaking broken water lines and pounding or blasting from construction. Three counties in the Tampa region are known as "sinkhole alley. Sinkholes are less common in South Florida, home to the state's two most populous counties - Broward and Miami-Dade.

The Villages shouldn't be singled out when it comes to sinkholes. Number one is Pasco, which abuts Sumter to the south. That massive chasm rivaled the epic Winter Park sinkhole in Orange County— 8 for RiskMeter, an online tool providing hazard analysis for insurers. Pasco and Marion are also among the top 10 counties nationwide with both a high concentration and high number of older people. In Ocala, near The Villages, a sinkhole in a fast-food lot swallowed a car and forced the elderly couple inside to crawl out.

A man simply standing in the grass in The Villages slipped through a trapdoor of a five-foot hole. In the Village of Glenbrook, a retired couple found a sinkhole literally on their doorstep. I spoke with geologist and sinkhole expert David Wilshaw on the same day he was returning from a trip to The Villages to inspect a suspected sinkhole. Central to that fear factor is how unpredictable sinkholes are.

Can anything besides GPR help predict sinkholes? Even when a site is surveyed and deemed safe from sinkholes, one can still form a few years later, given the precarious nature of karst. Perhaps the most dramatic sinkhole to ever hit The Villages, in Buttonwood—just look at this photo —lurched open several months after remediation began.

So did the sinkhole that killed Jeffrey Bush. That list, though, was based on sinkhole insurance claims, and scads of them were falsely reported in the years before , when Florida lawmakers overhauled the abused system.

Only eight other counties were given a higher level of risk. Its long sought-after predictive map was included in the Hazard Mitigation Plan that came out in February.

How helpful is the Sinkhole Report?