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More rain could bring more sinkholes in Florida

Fear remains at site of Land O' Lakes hole
Posted at 4:54 PM, May 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-23 17:55:53-04

LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Every time Terence Doohen comes back to his house, he sees a mess.

“Well it stinks. This is our property. The property has become unusable; unlivable. And it’s just extremely frustrating,” he said.

Doohen was home when the massive sinkhole opened up last July on Ocean Pines Drive in Land O’ Lakes.

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And when the landscaper hears about others now, he can’t help but worry.

“Every little depression. Every little swell in the ground, when I walk over it, drive over, do anything over it, my thinking is 'could this be a potential sinkhole?'” he said.

Experts say heavy rain in Central Florida caused a rash of sinkholes to open in Ocala and The Villages.

And with even more rain potentially coming, they predict more sinkholes in our area.

“Yea we are waiting for even more to pop up down here because we’ve got a lot of rain this last week.

And some of the people admit they’ve got small sinkholes in their backyards facing the lake,” said Wayne Bensoin.

“Now it’s just like every day there’s a story on a sinkhole so it’s becoming almost second nature,” said Doohen.

Most in this neighborhood think this hole won’t get any bigger.

And Doohen doesn’t seem to even care about the house that he now uses just to store stuff.

“I don’t think the hole is going to open up, but if it does, have at it. Take it," Doohen said.

Pasco County officials are still working on a solution for this sinkhole that is still surrounded by a fence.

Right now Doohen doesn’t have road access to even get to his home.

He says he’d actually move back in, but his wife and son want no part of it.