Two Florida families homeless after large sinkhole opens up between their homes

Two Florida families are homeless after a 20-foot deep, 40-foot wide sinkhole opened up between their houses on Wednesday. No one was inside either house. According to officials, no other homes are threatened.

Sinkholes form when ground water circulates through and dissolves certain types of soft rock, usually limestone, salt, gypsum, anhydrite and dolomite. As the rocks dissolve, caverns form and eventually, there is not enough strength to support the land above, triggering a sinkhole like this Wednesday in New Port Richey:

A sudden collapse can vary in size from a few feet to hundreds of acres and can range from 1- to 100-feet deep. Human activity can also trigger sinkholes, where groundwater pumping, new construction and development and groundwater manipulation occur.

Here a map showing that more than 40% of the US is prone to sinkholes!

Be careful!

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WAFB9 – 2 families displaced after after sinkhole opens in Florida