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this was a brief summary of that sinkhole formation:

On May 9, 1981, a large sinkhole collapsed in Winter Park, Florida, swallowing a house, five Porsches at a luxury car dealership, and half of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The sinkhole collapse occurred when carbonate bedrock had dissolved to the point that it could no longer support the weight of the overlying soil and sediment. The city of Winter Park stabilized and sealed the sinkhole, converting it into a 107-meter-wide (350-foot-wide) urban lake.

Read more: Karst Hydrology - river, system Karst Hydrology - river, system

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What then is this. We lose another day of precious time worrying about something that rarely happens. We do NOT have that time to waste. Buy insurance. Be happy.

Life is short. We are in the fourth quarter.

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Florida is the land of sinkholes. Not sure why it is the obligation of any paper to report on this type of issue. No one was hurt, it's property damage and not from something newsworthy and unusual like a car driving into a home. Should they report a lighting surge that knocks out my wiring and costs 10K to fix?

There is enough coverage of sinkholes for me to have known that they exist and I need to have coverage.

Let's hope these people are protected.

I am not a geologist, only an observationist. There seems to be a direct correlation between pumping large amounts of water out of the ground and sinkholes. For instance, when there are hard freezes in Polk county and sprinklers are being run several nights in a row to protect the strawberry plants, then hundreds of sinkholes develop shortly thereafter.

Quoting from Tampa Bay Times: "Heavy rains, massive pumping of groundwater and other factors can speed sinkhole formation, but Florida's Swiss-cheese geology and sandy soil have remained the same for eons. Thus no natural events explain the explosion in sinkhole claims in the past five years".

I've read that most of The Villages' potable water supply comes from the Florida aquifer, and that the aquifer level is being depleted to the point where it will no longer be a viable source in the near future. The Villages does use reclaimed and "grey water" for irrigation in some area, but the fact remains that there may be a water crisis in the future. And that will require using river water which will need to be piped in where available and heavily processed. When you look at it, the land that The Villages is built on only needed to support cattle and horses in the past. Now we have dense development and loads of irrigation needs. And there is more on the way. Is there enough water available to support the build-out Villages in the future? As we pump out the aquifer, can we expect more large sinkholes?

Our homeowners policy is with Security First Insurance through our Allstate agent.

Maybe the way I should look at it is that nothing should surprise me when it comes to insurance companies.

This would be covered under catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage which is automatic coverage on property policies in Florida subject to all perils deductible.

The insurance gal at Allstate told us the other day that no company is writing sinkhole coverage any longer on homes in Marion County. I wonder if those who have it now will have probelms getting their coverage renewed?

Cool
 

Thanks Gracie! I had so many options of what those mounds were?

I saw so many in the pasture behind the home that I figured it was gophers or moles?

A Turtle? Never would have guessed that one!

Now back to the sinkhole thread.