Talk of The Villages Florida - Plotted where Villages sinkholes have occurred

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - Plotted where Villages sinkholes have occurred (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/plotted-where-villages-sinkholes-have-occurred-155945/)

UGH.......We are only 80 - 90 feet!

The OP is sharing his/her analysis given some maps and info......not as an expert, just some info......a grain of salt. I enjoyed the info, but not in the panic mode

That was a lot of work OP.. thank you for sharing! I have a question.. what if I take my morning coffee outside right now, walk around my house and find a sink hole.. who should I call? I do know who to call in most situations, this one.. I would have no clue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff/Tracy (Post 1075297)

First, I would get my cat out of the house.
Make calls in this order:
911
Insurance agent
My attorney
My husband is an adult. He is on his own.

I think that the current elevation is not as important as the difference between the elevation of the unimproved land vs. the current elevation. How close did they scrape to the bedrock. The presence of more dirt above the bedrock will more evenly distribute any weight placed on the surface. Look up "angle of repose".

There have been sinkholes in clermont. Elevation between 100 and 300.

On this map there are some areas where there are few or no sinkholes. Wonder what differs there.

http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com...0.12.53-AM.png

This is fabulous. Thank you for taking the time to try to glean information that isn't readily available. Way cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 1075306)

You would think that some fancy geologist would have come to the conclusion the OP did..

Bet there are more factors than that.

Can't predict sinkholes anymore than they can predict earthquakes (except were they are fracking). IMO it depends on the cavern size under and area and how water drains and erosion effects ground over the cavern itself. I also think small sink hole are some time man made due to under ground water leaks or drainage problems. It also make sense to me that if you on hill the water will run more to the bottom and seep more on the low area which IMO would increase the odds of sinkhole?

You would think if they can find oil they could find large caverns under property and predict sinkhole may occur. But, IMO that would rule out have the land in Florida :rant-rave:

Surprisingly, Sumter isn't on this list.

I you had a sinkhole that was not covered by insurance and it was going to cost several hounded thousand dollars to repair what would you do?

A. Fill the with water and stock and it calling it a pond.

B. Take out a loan and make the repairs

C. Just walk away

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNLAKEPANDA (Post 1075349)

Seems that would be catastrophic and that is covered by homeowners insurance.

This is an ad, but has some good info;

Sinkhole vs. Catastrophic Ground Coverage Collapse

Don't want to "pirate" this thread (OP I too appreciate your work) wasn't there a group in TV working on a possible "self insured entity" for residents of the Villages to sort of take up the slack where insurance is lacking? Anybody know if there has been any progress on this concept? Sinkhole---always going to happen to somebody else that's what we think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VillagerFrog58 (Post 1074521)

I have been a resident of the Villages for only a few years. Using the news releases and postings on this website, I got the elevation chart from the Sumter county website and overlayed (using google maps) the roads of the villages. From that, I put a yellow dot where I have record of past sinkholes; whether big ones or little ones. Using Google earth (which has plotted every road in the Villages) and the elevation they provide, I put the elevation of that area by the yellow dot. Disregarding two areas where sinkholes occurred because of retention pond lining issues, I have 8 others as shown. What I found (though absolutely unscientific) is that of the 8 that I know of, were all below 84 feet in elevation, with the lowest being at 63 ft. There are portions of the Villages where the elevation is much higher... all the way up to 140 feet. No sinkholes have occurred in those areas. So.. I'm thinking that the more elevation / ground you have under you, the lesser the probability of a sinkhole occurring. Anyhow, I'm just sharing for those that may be interested. And BTW, if I am missing any locations from the past, just post it's location and date and I will add to the chart.

Your information while not scientific, is right on the mark. The closer the sub limestone strata is to the surface, the more likely of sinkholes. Over many many years the limestone dissolves leaving a cavity. As the water table that normally fills the cavity, is depleted, and especially when the upper surface becomes wet and saturated from rains, the upper surface falls into the cavity. You then have a sinkhole.