Sinkholes: Plant City has declared 11 homes uninhabitable and is watching 35 more.

[madfloridian]

Possibly 46 homes under serious threat from sinkholes in Plant City, Florida, which is sometimes called the world's Strawberry Capital. Sadly many strawberries were lost in spite of the fact that the aquifer was pumped down 60 feet.

There is a video with this article of a woman whose family is having to leave their home, uncertain if they can return to live in it again.

From Tampa's ABC Action News:

Plant City homeowners still left with sinking feeling

PLANT CITY, FL -- Looks can be deceiving. From the front of Sandy Bruce's home, everything looks fine. But in the backyard, it's a much different tale.

"We have had more and more changes, and shifting everywhere." she says.

The changes are evident in the lopsided deck, the sloping fence, and the giant depression carving out her yard.

"We are just so dislocated."

Sandy says her two adjacent neighbors now share more than her zip code. The massive sinkhole started in their backyards and spread to Sandy's. The city told her neighbors it was no longer safe for them to stay in their homes.

"We are still expecting a week of receiving calls," says Plant City Engineer Brett Gocka.

Gocka says Plant City has already declared 11 homes uninhabitable and are watching 35 more, including Sandy's.

There are politics surrounding this issue in Florida. The aquifer has dropped about 60 feet, and in addition to sinkholes forming there are many in rural areas without access to water now.

Sinkhole politics

No doubt, January has been exceptionally hard on Florida's farmers, who, in the peak of the strawberry growing season, have been desperate to keep their livelihood from freezing to death. Eleven straight nights of icebox temperatures led to 11 nights of watering to cover the strawberry plants in a protective coat of ice.

But that same plant-saving process plunders the aquifer, leading to unpredictable sinkholes and residential wells that run dry. This year, the aquifer - a naturally occurring layer of water underground - dropped about 60 feet, putting water out of reach for many who live in eastern Hillsborough County without access to municipal hookups.

Those experienced in the wintertime ritual knew to shut down their well pumps, but newcomers had no idea their expensive motors would burn up if the temperatures - and therefore the aquifer - dropped. And no one can guess whose house or street might suddenly cave in, although those who live near a large strawberry field seem especially vulnerable.

..."Strawberry city

Living with misery and anxiety breeds resentment, even in the small town of Plant City, the strawberriest place on Earth. With its berry-bedecked downtown decor, its annual strawberry festival and the crowning of wholesome strawberry queens, the city owes much to its farmers. That's true now more than ever. Many of Plant City's blue-collar industries, long a backbone of this railroad town, have shut down within the past year or so. Unemployment is high.

But Plant City residents are starting to grumble that everyone from the mayor to the governor care far more about the farmers than the little guy.

Be sure to watch the video. It is devastating situation to all involved. Not just the homeowners, the growers as well.

[madfloridian]

1. More about the homes impacted...

http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/news/local/story/P...

"PLANT CITY, FL -- Just yesterday Marc Draven had no problem opening his gate. Today it's just one more indicator that his house is on the move.

Marc now knows little cracks lead to big cracks and he doesn't need any reminder how just how big they can get. On Wednesday he watched as the earth gobbled up his neighbors’ driveway.

"I could be standing here you could be standing there you'd be fine and they step ten steps over that way and you fall into a hole," Draven says.

One by one Marc's neighbors have been forced from their homes. His next door neighbor left today. It's one of eight homes Plant City officials say are no longer safe to live in."

[SandWalker1984]

2. The farmers say they followed Swiftmud rules, so not responsible.

I too live in Florida and have been following the stories. The farmers say they followed regulations so they're not to blame. Most of the people who have damage don't have sinkhole insurance coverage, so will have to pay for repairs out of pocket. It's a no win situation for homeowners.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Regulations in Florida have been whittled down to nothing.

Who is Swiftmud? Is that like the St. john River Water Management District? These water districts have been compromised. They don't really protect the public anymore.

[varelse]

3. Can they switch to dry-farming tomatos or something?

like, before the whole place goes to hell? Probably too late now, even if that would work

[csziggy]

7. It's not really the type of crop - they spray the plants with water to prevent freeze damage

When the temperatures get below freezing. Generally cold weather there lasts a night or two. This time it was a week or more of below freezing temperatures, so much more water than normal was pumped out.

In addition, there has been a long term drought down there - water restrictions for years. So the ground water was already low, then they pump out more for the freeze. Sinkholes form when the underground caverns carved out by water are emptied. Dry limestone is much more brittle than damp limestone so once it dries out, the ceilings of the cavern collapses, dropping the land above. Most new sinkholes happen where new subdivisions have gone in, often because the land was drained to make it dry enough to build on.

The watertable down there has been screwed for years. Too many people, a lot of agriculture - all of the "tropical" stuff that needs more water - phosphate strip mines and the tremendous amounts of water needed to process the phosphate, draining the swamps to make subdivisions, the list goes one and on. I grew up down there and many places that used to be wet have not been for decades. My Dad lived in that area since 1925 and even when I was a kid, he'd talk about how much wetter it had been when he was a kid.

[varelse]

24. That's terrible

it sounds like farming will not be an option for much longer there, if it even still is now. Families are being ruined by this, and it's probably too late to turn it around

[csziggy]

25. Florida really needs tropical storms to hit on a regular basis to replenish the water tables

But with as high a population as there is now, that might not do enough. Of course, if there are many years like the one that had Bonnie, Charlie, Frances, and Ivan all hit the state, the population may start to drop which could be a good thing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Atlantic_hurricane_se... )

Florida has been flirting with abusing their water resources for a long time - that is why we have water management districts to try to control usage. The "Swiftmud" referred to in the OP article is the water management district for the Plant City area. Ironically, the name Swiftmud comes from the phosphate mining company Swift and one of their slurry holding areas.

[Edweird]

4. Sinkholes. Florida's answer to earthquakes. There are whole neighborhoods in Miami

that are sinking. It's due more to poor building/development practices like constructing over old landfills, but there are plenty of sinking/damaged homes down here too.

Sinkholes suck. It's the one variable that can render your land useless at a moments notice.

[jwirr]

5. The wake up calls are coming fast and furious this month. Wonder

if anyone is listening?

[madfloridian]

9. For sure no one in power is listening.

I saw that Adam Putnam was touring the agricultural properties, but I did not see him tour those home sites. I don't think anyone is paying attention to the homeowners.

[lpbk2713]

10. Opie wants to run for Agriculture Commissioner

It was a blue shirt photo op session for him.

[ddeclue]

6. Hey.. I know! We ought to open up another water bottling plant in Lake County!

[quaker bill]

15. because people drink less water

when it comes from a tap?

[flyarm]

20. the water bottling corps..Pepsi and coke..are depleting Fla water reserves!

and yeah alot of that bottled water..is Fla water..much of what comes from our taps!

keep buying that bottled h2o..at what 1.00 a bottle..we get it free,.from our tap.

[quaker bill]

26. Water is heavy

62.4 pounds per cubic foot, as I recall from physics. This is why bottling companies do not tend to ship much of it very far, and generally own many bottling facilities close to the markets they serve. Most of bottled water is taken from local public supplies, filtered, ozonized, perhaps ultra-filtered, bottled and sold right where it is. Read the labels carefully, most of it sounds like it comes from exotic locales, but it is largely city water taken from a fairly local tap. Very little of it is even shipped across state lines, because the cost of shipping over time is greater than the cost of another bottling plant.

Beer on the other hand, uses far more water to fill each bottle, and is shipped far greater distances. Yet, no one seems to complain about brewers "depleting Fla water reserves".

Go to any grocer or convenience store and look at the beverage display. Most of what you will see, if you live in Fla, is Fla water that has been enhanced with flavors and sweeteners put in bottles. Yet people only complain about the unsweetened and unflavored varieties as "depleting reserves". Go figure.

I generally do not buy bottled water because of the expense. I do however purchase a good stash of bottled water near the beginning of hurricane season. When hurricane charley came through my neighborhood, many trees came down, and as the trees fell, the water mains came up with them. We had plenty of drinking water, running about a foot deep in the streets. It was perfectly good to grab in buckets for flushing the toilet, but not safe for drinking. I had bottled water, a small camp stove, fuel, and plenty of coffee. Once I got the coffee pot cooking, I became a very popular guy in the neighborhood.

That story aside, it was good I had the stash of bottled water, because we had no power or drinking water at the house for nearly two weeks.

[SergeStorms]

8. Florida's explosive growth........

is the main reason for this phenomenon. Too many people demanding too little water. Too many golf courses, water parks, fountains, houses with yard sprinklers etc. etc. etc. Just too many people. For years it was seen as a positive thing. No income taxes, inexpensive homes, jobs, jobs, jobs galore! Now, it's time to pay the piper for all of that unchecked growth. The aquifers have always been a mysterious and wonderful attribute for Florida, but man's supposed dominance of nature has, as always, come back to bite them in the ass.

I'd like to blame it all on Jeb Bush, but these practices started long before Bush's mismanagement. There are just too many damned people in Florida, and most of them don't understand fact one about it's fragile ecosystem. They want to live the same way they did in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New York etc. where they originally came from, and had the unlimited resources of the Great Lakes to rely upon. It can't happen. Not in Florida.

I'd like to think that lawmakers in Florida will learn from those past mistakes, but knowing Florida's history regarding law makers in Tallahassee, I'm quite sure they won't. And it IS a crying damned shame. What was once a sub-tropical paradise will soon become a giant sinkhole filled with garbage and polluted water.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Growth was their economic development plan.

You should hear the tapes of the board members for local Commerce and Industry. They didn't care about rules and regulations because they figured all they had to do was build it and they will come. Everything else got in the way of the profit. Now we're dealing with the short-sightedness of greedy fuckwits.

[quaker bill]

17. No it isn't

massive short term watering for freeze protection of crops caused the problem. Farms of various sorts have been doing this for many, many decades, well before all the growth and development. Over time this use has caused sinkholes and dried up entire lakes. In fact, this particular demand on the aquifer was far bigger before the many of the farms were developed into subdivisions. A great deal of damage was done to Florida's fragile ecosystems for agricultural purposes a very long time before the population boom. See the Everglades Agricultural Areas for evidence, the impacts are large enough to be seen from space.

[fascisthunter]

11. developement has destroyed so much in Florida

really sad but it is evident everywhere else too, not just Florida. I spoke with a local whose ancestry goes back a ways in FL, and he told me what it was like growing up with so much untouched environment.

One thing which has really screwed up FL and many other states, is the filling of wetlands for developement. REALLY DUMB...

[flyarm]

12. any news on the elementary school siting on a sink hole that they evac'ed?

I haven;t seen anything on it the past two days..??

thanks..

[madfloridian]

13. Still going to other schools. Talked to a lady in Plant City...she did not know about sinkholes.

She said no one had mentioned them, and she had been busy and had not seen the news. Turns out a few of her neighbors have problems.

[flyarm]

19. I guess she doesn't drive either!!!..wow the roads from Tampa to Orlando are a mess!

closures keep happening because of Sink Holes..and even Up to Polk County!!

[ensho]

18. I've read recently that Fl. is losing population. people are leaving more

then people arriving.

how factual is this? anyone?

[flyarm]

21. don't know but our unemployment was announced this morn..11.8% unemployed.

so you know it is damn more than that!

[northernlights]

22. the saddest thing I read about sinkholes was a couple years ago

A hospital worker came home from work and found his *barn* at the bottom of a sinkhole. With his 2 horses in it.

One horse had already been sucked into the mud and died. The other was standing on his mate's corpse, buried in mud and sinking. They had cranes trying to pull that poor, frantic horse out. The poor owner was begging them not to let him die too. Sucked under before they could rescue him.

[bertman]

23. Modern humanity's blind charge into the "good life" with little or no awareness of how

we impact our environment in the long term. Most of us are totally ignorant of how wastefully we use our water resources. It would be easy to educate people about water conservation and teach them how important it is to incorporate water conservation into our lives--on all levels. This is just another one of those "chickens" that are coming home to roost.

Too many people. Too little reverence for nature. Way too little foresight.