[VillagerFrog58]

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.

[VillagerFrog58]

Here five of the recent ones that I have.

[villagetinker]

Wow, this is impressive. Now I do not recall the details, but there was some talk among the neighbors of a sinkhole near the western end of yearling way, you have the one near the eastern end.

[VillagerFrog58]

Villagetinker, the one on the eastern end of Yearling way is actually up on the next street on 1906 and 1912 Ussepa Oaks Lane located in the Village of
Pinnelas. This was the sinkhole on the new houses that occurred before they were sold and they had to be fixed by the developer before they could be sold.

If you have any documentation on the one on the western edge, just let me know.

[VillagerFrog58]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

Wow, this is impressive. Now I do not recall the details, but there was some talk among the neighbors of a sinkhole near the western end of yearling way, you have the one near the eastern end.

In the article attached, there was a sinkhole affecting 2 new houses before they were sold that had to be repaired by the developer. If you have more specifics on the western side of Yearling.....

[justjim]

OP, interesting information and as you mentioned----unscientific. When we first retired, we built a home in Royal Highlands which is about 12 miles south of Leesburg. The very first sinkhole was a large one and at the highest elevation in the subdivision. ???? Not having any education or training on this subject matter, I don't know what this means or what your poll of sinkholes in TV means either.

Perhaps someone with "knowledge" of sinkholes can comment. All I know, and have read, a sinkhole can happen just about anywhere in Florida---especially Central Florida.

[sunnyatlast]

Looking around for more info on whether higher elevation is protective against sinkholes here in FL, I read this article from FL Geological Survey, with this excerpt:

"....In general, areas of the state where limestone is close to surface, or areas with deeper limestone but with a conducive configuration of water table elevation, stratigraphy, and aquifer characteristics have increased sinkhole activity....."

The entire article is instructive:

Facts about sinkholes in Florida - WFLA News Channel 8

[RickeyD]

We looked at a couple of houses in Lake Deaton that had small sinkholes repaired. This included the house with the sinkhole and the adjacent houses. The discount was minimal and since you need to disclose any knowledge of a sinkhole on the property you want to insure to the insurer it didn't seem to be a worthwhile discount, nor worth loosing sleep over. We opted out. BTW, the houses in question were at the bottom of a long hill, about the same elevation as a couple of ponds.

[joldnol]

They just plugged one in Dunedin on the north side of Hillsborough. They were filling it with concrete last week....one of the houses that haven't been sold yet.....approximately 150 ft West from Viola and Hillsborough.

[LeeM]

We are visiting soon and looking to buy so I wondered about the sinkhole issue. This is very helpful. Thank you.

[rubicon]

To me, predicting sinkholes is like predicting 100 year floods.

[dewilson58]

Thanks Frogger.................I enjoyed the information.

[EnglishJW]

Originally Posted by VillagerFrog58

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.

Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to do this. More importantly, thanks for sharing it. We looked at one the new houses that had a repaired sinkhole. Our villages agent informed us about it and we moved on.

[Erika]

Originally Posted by VillagerFrog58

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.

Thank you for this info. Unfortunately, I could not read the research as nothing happened when I clicked on it. Please tell me how I can determine the elevation of a property in which I am interested in buying. Do the sales reps have info regarding that question?

[justjim]

I would like an experenced Geologist give us his/her take on if there is any correlation between sinkholes and elevation level of your property. I am skeptical.