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Friday, July 14, 2017

Bloggytown

Massive sinkhole swallows two Florida homes, forces evacuations

Posted By Colin Wolf on Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 11:16 AM

Seeing 2 homes are damaged due to this sinkhole from SkyFOX view overhead. pic.twitter.com/e4NmDqMPVw
— Vanessa Ruffes FOX13 (@RuffesFOX13) July 14, 2017

A 200-foot sinkhole opened up under a home in Land O'Lakes, Florida early Friday morning, causing one home to be almost entirely swallowed, another partially destroyed, and a neighborhood-wide evacuation.

The sinkhole started as a small depression under a boat in the front yard at around 7:30 a.m., reports the Tampa Bay Times. However, within minutes the entire home, which was located at 21835 Ocean Pines Drive in Lake Padgett Estates, was completely destroyed.

No one was home at the time and Pasco County Fire Rescue authorities did enter the home to retrieve two dogs and some belongings.

Check out this incredible video of a sinkhole swallowing a home in Land O'Lakes. Follow BN9 for updates: https://t.co/gZTAAjSNYs pic.twitter.com/lKy6y8L136
— Bay News 9 (@BN9) July 14, 2017

The other home, at 21825 Ocean Pines Drive, was only partially swallowed. That family was able to grab a few important documents and their six dogs before authorities deemed it unsafe to reenter.

Authorities have asked multiple families to evacuate their homes after active sinkhole swallowed up an entire house. https://t.co/W7PAvMGe3h pic.twitter.com/mO4zeCvppY
— ABC News (@ABC) July 14, 2017

County officials have begun tagging doors at nearby streets, in case homeowners need to quickly escape. So far, ten other homes in the neighborhood have been tagged, with more likely to come.

It's unknown at this time what caused the sinkhole to form.

This is a developing story. We'll update this post when more information is available.

click to enlarge

Tags: sinkhole, Pasco County, Image

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