Sinkhole opens under man's bedroom while he is in bed.

[cali]

BRANDON, Fla. A large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, trapping a 34-year-old man in the rubble.

The home collapsed late Thursday in a Brandon neighborhood. By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

Fire rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said Bracken Engineering officials determined the home's bedroom is the center of the sinkhole, which measures about 100 feet across.

Listening devices and cameras were placed in the hole but there had been no contact with the missing man by early Friday.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57571990/man-trapped-in-100-foot-wide-sinkhole-near-tampa/

[Aerows]

1. Holy Crap!

What a terrible thing to wake up to, or not wake up to... . Poor guy! I hope they get him out of there and that he's okay.

[Little Star]

2. omg, that's not good.

[MiniMe]

3. Saw this on facebook this morning

[Bay Boy]

4. Is that the sinkhole in question?

n/t

[MiniMe]

10. I think so, they updated the story

Link to the update. But that is the pic that was there earlier.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/03/sinkhole-in-florida-traps-man--85799.html

[Angry Dragon]

6. Where are pieces of the house??

[bettyellen]

11. the house had only the interior collapse, looks normal from outside, but

they said they can tell the sinkhole is 100 ft wide, and the collapsed area is just 30 feet, so I guess that could change.
I should not have read that, what a nightmare!

[panader0]

5. I saw the interview with his crying brother this morning.

He had jumped into the hole and started digging. When the cops came they pulled him out. He never saw his brother.
What a way to go! Sad and weird.

[Bay Boy]

7. The pics and video on the link confuse me...

...are any of those of the actual home with the sinkhole?

[panader0]

8. No.

[Bay Boy]

9. Do you have any links that show the actual house

with the sink hole underneath it?

Are homes built on cement slabs common in that area? That's the only thing that makes sense to me. A house built with a crawl space would mean there would be rafters holding the bedroom up.

[madfloridian]

12. About those sinkholes....politics and strawberry farmers.

Sinkhole Politics

Seffner is 10 miles from Plant City and known for growing strawberries.

Agricultural demands are clashing with residential needs.

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.


Here is more about it:

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.