Sinkhole swallows man in Florida...

Tom, being you're a Florida guy, I'm sure you've seen the story about the sinkhole that poor guy fell through. Which brings up a good related question...

I know you've mentioned the sink rate in Fl. soil is terribly fast. Does it have anything to do with the sinkhole situation? I was was reading that the sinkholes are caused by limestone which erodes when wet. Does any of that tie in to the unique nature of your soil?

Wanted to ask because the story itself is so unusual - and terribly tragic - that its captivated me since it broke.

No........... no relationship. Totally different type of condition.
Yes...... sad situation. Can't imagine waking up in bed....in the middle of the night....... "going under".

Living atop blue coal diggings with rotting timbers and such now and then we also have cave ins and know of a car being lost but thankfully no human life.
My first cousin years ago went into the cellar and at the bottom of the steps was a large hole and one more step and she would have been Gonzo.
The powers to be poured tons of rock in the hole and declared it safe and never had any more problems.
Certainly I can't imagine going to bed and going for a ride or losing a loved one and certainly hope nothing else happens as heard of another small sink hole in the same area.
Getting back to you original question we sure have some deep silver but doubt if the mining industry has anything to do with this,

I live in Florida also and these things are nothing new, especially in Central Florida. Last year one opened up and took a horse and barn with it. No warning.

smudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I live in Florida also and these things are
> nothing new, especially in Central Florida. Last
> year one opened up and took a horse and barn with
> it. No warning.


Quite scary. Material items are one thing, but, what happened to that poor man is like something out of a movie. When I first read the story though, I was perplexed. They said the hole was initially 20 feet wide by 20 feet deep. 20 feet deep isn't all the sizable. Couldn't they just send a rescuer down in a bucket contraption or something? The hole is now more than 60 feet deep & they have sadly called off the search for the mans body.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 04:21PM by njnydigger.

And not to sound overly morbid, but retrieving his body might prove impossible. The hole itself might be 60' deep now, but the depth of the debris could go much, much farther.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 09:19PM by smudge.

They say they already filled in the hole without ever getting the body out...

I often wonder why they wouldn't 'go that extra mile' and try to find the poor fellow, at least for the sake of the family, and closure. And there is always that question of: What if??? But I truly hope and I sincerely pray that it was quick and painless. I'm not trying to sound morbid either... and I certainly do not want to offend anyone's sensibilities......but he was a fellow human. But then, I also understand that I wasn;t in Florida and don't really understand about sinkholes and how deep they actually go. Prayers are sent for his family and friends and neighbors.

i was shocked to hear they would not attempt to recover his body!!!!!! the whole thing is like a horrible nihtmare one might have! godbless the rest of his family that made it out.

sink holes are common in central/east central florida! i had a map once showing sink hole activity hotspots. if you google it you could probably find some similer maps!

chuck.

Sink holes occur, but to have one drop below a guy in bed - the probability of such an event is exceedingly low, yet apparently it is not zero.

THey had a HUGE excavator on the property with it's arm outreached to tear the house down .....Why couldn't they just attach a winch to the bucket and winch somebody down into the hole ? .......This is not rocket science here ......Surely a human life should be worth that much consideration ......It's as bad as the asisted living facility in CA not wanting to help the woman who was dying by giving her CPR !!...... Is THIS what we have come to as a people ? ...... One more step BACKWARD for mankind !!....Jim

Synthnut,

Its more complicated than that, believe me. Even if they lowered someone in a cage down there, he wouldn't find anything. The sinkhole goes much deeper and gets filled in by the collapsing soil around it. And that process can take days before a hole reforms a "bottom". If the victim was sucked down in the beginning (which is what happened here) and drops to the water table level, and that is entirely possible, his body has been sucked away and could be no where near the original hole anymore.

Even with maximum effort endangering the life of everyone going into that hole, the chances his body gets found are next to zero.

I say this as someone who has lived in Florida, and therefore with sinkholes, his entire life.

It is extremely rare that anyone gets killed by one, but when its happens, by one as dramatic as this, there is almost nothing anyone can do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2013 09:52PM by smudge.

Correct!

I guess I"m just use to mining disasters that occur hundreds of feet below the ground happening up here in the N.E. and in most cases , people make it out alive ..... I guess its a different scenario there in Fla ..... My buddy is there in Fla and is having his bathtub removed , and a shower installed in it's place for his disabled wife ..... He is neck deep in licenses , permits , and inspections , and this has gone on for more than 3 weeks !!......He just now getting this small job started ...... They even have an inspector to come out to inpsect the scews that are going into the waterproof wall board that he is using !!....I figured if Fla is THAT anal about how things are built , that Sink holes would be a walk in the park , and in most cases houses would not even be built around them ..... I'm not familiar with sink holes , but I'll be sure to read up on them .....Thanks for the info ....Jim

Your best chance for dropping into a sinkhole appears to be in the central-north half of Florida. Apparently ground water pumping near cities has induced the majority of sinkholes as the water-table drops and underground aquifer flow erodes the limestone base. In 1975 near Tampa, a well-drilling rig actually dropped into a sinkhole it induced. In ten minutes it dropped 300 feet into the ground and was gone.