Lutz Home Deemed Unsafe After Depression Forms, Family Evacuated

LUTZ, FL — On Friday night, a Lutz family experienced one of the top 10 nightmares of home ownership.

Just as the family was winding down after a busy week, they began hearing strange popping sounds in their house at 22445 Willow Lakes Drive in Lutz.

When they went to investigate, they saw floor tiles in the kitchen buckling and cracks forming in the walls.

Pasco County Emergency Management and Fire Rescue crews responded to the family's call for help, and found a small depression, about a foot wide, had formed under the home's foundation, making the home unsafe to live in.

Firefighters helped the family quickly gather important papers and evacuate the home. The Red Cross is now assisting the family in finding alternate housing. Since the latest depression is on private property, the county has advised the homeowners to contact their insurance company.

While no other homes in the subdivision have been affected at this time, Pasco County officials say residents were rightfully alarmed when they heard the news.

Since August, emergency management officials have been monitoring a series of depressions that have opened up in the Lakeside Woodlands community in Hudson, in the northern part of the county. The county has now identified 76 depressions in the area.

This latest depression is in south Pasco County in an area that has experienced depressions and sinkholes in previous years.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, depressions, also known as land subsidence, are caused by a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface. A sinkhole is a depression that has no natural external surface drainage. When it rains, all the water stays in the sinkhole.

The bulk of Florida is made up of porous carbonate rock (limestone and dolostone) topped by sand and clay. Over time, the carbonate rocks can dissolve, create "karst terrain," which is basically a subterranean cave system. According to the USGS, sinkholes are most common in karst terrain. This means depressions in Florida can usually be categorized as sinkholes.

This is why Florida has more sinkholes than any other state.

Friday's events have become all too common in Pasco County where geologists say there's a massive underground cave system that is susceptible to collapses.

In June 2018, families in six mobile homes in Caribbean Estates mobile home park in the Moon Lake Gardens area were asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes after a 15-foot sinkhole opened up in two yards.

The previous year - July 2017 - two homes were destroyed after a sinkhole the size of a swimming pool opened on Ocean Pines Drive in Land O' Lakes. The following month, five more homes were evacuated as the sinkhole grew.

According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, of the total sinkhole claims reported in Florida between 2006-2009, 66 percent (11,872) of the claims were in Hernando, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. The number of claims in these three counties increased 67.9 percent in 2010.

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation said the increase in sinkholes is most likely due to more homes being constructed on property that has always been prone to sinkholes, although the DEP said construction on sinkhole-prone property can also speed up the formation of sinkholes.

In Florida, insurance companies are required to provide homeowners insurance coverage that includes damage from “catastrophic ground cover collapse.” Additionally, insurance companies are required to offer sinkhole damage coverage as an option that comes with an additional cost.

Under Florida law, catastrophic ground cover collapse must meet certain criteria:

• The sinking of the top layer of soil must occur abruptly.
• A depression in the ground cover must be clearly visible without the aid of instruments.
• There must be structural damage to the home, including the foundation.
• A government agency must condemn and evacuate the structure.

The state insurance office compiled data for 2006 to 2010 from most of the major insurance companies in Florida on the number of sinkhole claims received and how much each insurance company paid out. To find out how much your insurance company paid out for sinkhole claims, click here.

See related stories:

76 Depressions Have Opened In Hudson Neighborhood Since August

Pasco County Investigates Cause Of 20 Depressions In Hudson

Sinkhole Swallows Seffner Man Sleeping In Bed

New Port Richey Families Advised To Evacuate After Sinkhole Opens

Land O' Lakes Sinkhole: What Residents Need To Know

Land O' Lakes Sinkhole Grows, Impacts 2 More Homes

Land O' Lakes Sinkhole: 6 Homes Condemned

Sinkhole Road Closings Remain In Place: Sheriff

Watch: 50-Foot Deep Sinkhole Swallows 2 Florida Homes

Land O' Lakes Sinkhole Claims 7th Home

2nd Possible Sinkhole Opens in Holiday Neighborhood