SEFFNER, Fla. – The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says it is safe for residents of a Seffner neighborhood to remain in their homes despite a sinkhole that has reopened at the same site that swallowed a Florida man while he slept in 2013.
County officials say they received a call around 4:30 p.m. on Monday that the sinkhole had reopened and fire crews, along with deputies were called out to the site.
John-Paul Lavandeira with Hillsborough County code enforcement says engineers will be on-site Tuesday to assess the sinkhole, which he estimates to be about 12 feet by 12 feet.
In March 2013, the sinkhole opened underneath a home, swallowing Jeffrey Bush, who was asleep in his bedroom.
His brother, Jeremy Bush, tried desperately to save him but was unable to.
Rescue crews never recovered the body.
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“This is not uncommon what we’re seeing out here with reoccurrences. It’s actually the preferred way of doing it. The way handled it the first time. The way we filled it. That way when there’s a reoccurrence it’s in a controlled area like you see behind me with the double fences, so we can kind of control the situation,” Lavandeira explained.
Lavandeira says there are several ways to fill a sinkhole and one of the ways is with gravel and liquid, which is flexible and if there is a reoccurrence it will reoccur at that point.
“The depression isn’t going to find another place to try and meander,” he stated. “It will stay right there, and it’s the easiest point of attack, so that’s really the best situation in this scenario. We can actually control when and if there is a recurrence.”
He added, “This is something that is out of all of our control. This is a Mother Nature thing. This isn’t a man-made scenario, but we do have a plan in place. We have the right experts in place. This is under control. There is a reason why there are double fences where this thing is.”
The site is closed to the public and secured with two layers of fencing.
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