As rain fell Wednesday, so did more dirt into a massive sinkhole that isn’t done growing just yet.
While officials said the sinkhole was dormant, they added the unstable sand can’t support the weight above, causing it to widen.
A concrete slab and hot tub fell in Wednesday morning.
The whole grew by about 10 feet, making it about 235 across.
Loretta Tegarden lives on a neighboring street and said the sinkhole looks bigger.
“The white block cement home is down in it. Before it was just cracked and leaning towards it. And yesterday there was water in the sinkhole. Today I don’t see any water,” she said.
“How do we fix it? We need to get dirt in here as soon as possible, so we can create a 45 degree angle bank into to it, to support the edges from falling in, and we are working toward that end right now,” said Pasco County Assistant Administrator Kevin Guthrie.
Meanwhile Duke Energy is working to reroute power lines, so they don’t go over the hole.
And crews are surveying the ground to make sure it can support the heavy equipment that will be a part of clean up and repairs.
Water testing will continue here as well.
Even the there are no signs of E-coli, several samples did show signs of possible bacteria. And although it’s common in older wells, officials want to be sure the water is safe before giving the all-clear.
“A lot of times, the bacteria can be anywhere. It doesn’t mean it’s in the wells itself. It can be in the spigot. It could be in the piping leading to it,” said Greg Crumpton with the Florida Dept. of Health of Pasco County.
All residents here can do is watch that hole and wait to make sure it doesn’t grow anymore, so life in this community can get back to normal.
“I really feel sorry for the people that lost their homes and their treasures and I’m just so grateful that nobody was hurt,” said Teagarden.
Officials said it will take 135,000 cubic yards of dirt to fill up the hole.
But it’s still not safe to start thinking about that just yet.
