When the Earth Swallows Your Home
Saturday, September 1st, 2007“Welcome to Orlando, part of your house could disappear into a sinkhole at any moment”, or so you would believe if you watched the news. If you’ve lived here long enough, you start to grow used to the idea that the further West you go on our little peninsula, the more you hear of Sinkholes.
Apopka, on the Western outskirts of Orlando had one appear just a couple of days ago. 611 Erroll Parkway in the Erroll Estates subdivision started with a bang as the floor in the bathroom disappeared, and then it spread to eat the kitchen. Time will tell exactly how large it will get. (full story with video)
A Little Research
Wanting to know more about the number of sinkholes in the Orlando area, Orange County in particular, I jumped on the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection website and downloaded their data. Of the nearly 2800 sinkholes that have been reported in Florida, Orange County accounted for less than 1%, with a total of 189 sinkholes between 1961 and 2006.
The fear that we feel is probably due to some deep visceral reaction to being swallowed alive by the earth. However, it turns out that your chances of having a sinkhole on your property in the Orlando area are pretty slim.
[related: the Southwest Florida Water Management District has the best looking government site I’ve seen - it is also chock-full of information about sinkholes and information for that part of Florida (including Tampa)]
