Sinkholes Swallow Upscale Subdivision!
Bill Walker

Well, not really. I just wanted to be dramatic. A few sinkholes opened up in a retention pond over the weekend (6-22.) I'm not going to bother with the details, so I'll let you read a copy of the article from the Ocala Star Banner below.

I'll give you the cavers perspective now. This same retention pond opened up a few years ago when the subdivision was newly built. Bill Birdsall told me about it and we went to check it out. A 15 foot deep smooth walled solution pit opened up in the middle of the pond after a huge rain. It had drained the entire pond and a small waterfall fell into the sink and disappeared. We had to rig a 200' rope to drop the 15' pit because the pit was in the middle of the pond. We found a small, very scary room a few feet to the south of the pit that collapsed a few days later. I found it interesting that the entire bottom of the pond was solid limestone. A few days later I showed it to Brian and Sullivan.

Fast forward to Monday (the 24th.) My brother Philip and I checked the sinks out after work. I was run off by the neighbors, but managed to snap a few quick pics before the cops showed up. The sinks are located on the east side of the pond. The largest one, about 20 feet across is on the side of the pond and has some rock at the bottom. The second largest one opened up along the property line and swallowed a very expensive fence. A third sink, a couple of feet deep, opened up in the neighboring subdivision. The developer has removed dirt and clay from another area of the pond and made a dam across the front of the largest sink.

This picture is from the first time the pond fell in a few years ago.

The main sink is at the far center of the picture. They've taken dirt and clay from the left hand side of the pond and built a dam across the front of the sink. You can see the horseshoe shaped trail from the heavy equipment.

The main sink.

A view from the opposite side of the main sink.

The fence line directly behind the main sink.

The third sink a few feet away from the second.

Sinkholes Startle Marion County Residents
Ocala Star Banner
JOE CALLAHAN
Senior Staff Writer

OCALA - They were eerie sounds, like waves breaking along the beach. With the sand and surf about an hour away, two Rosewoods subdivision families actually were listening to large chunks of earth toppling into one of three sinkholes just yards behind their homes.

The sinkholes opened up late Saturday afternoon while Marion County was getting slammed by one of many thunderstorms that dumped an average of four inches of rain on the area, officials said. Once the area stabilizes, officials hope to bring in engineers to investigate.

Margie Davison walked behind her Southeast 31st Lane home on Sunday, pointing to one large sinkhole - which was about 20 feet deep - that opened up in her neighbor's yard along a back fence. The wrought-iron fence separates their homes from a large South Point subdivision retention pond.

Early Sunday, one large rock fence column disappeared into the deep sinkhole and by afternoon another seven-foot section of fence disappeared inside the opening that expanded to more than 20 feet wide.

"Last night I started gathering up all my antiques just in case we need to leave," said Margie Davison as her husband, Allan, mowed the front lawn. "The sound of the earth falling in the sinkhole made me nervous. Finally, I felt comfortable enough to go to bed."

Other neighbors, who asked not to be identified, said Sunday the sound was loud and could be heard throughout the night and into Sunday.

South Point Developer Juan Guerra told neighbors he hopes to have engineers investigate as soon as the area is deemed safe.

The first sinkhole, which is about 30 feet in diameter, opened along the edge of the retention pond about 200 feet behind the homes. Then, a second sinkhole opened along the property line, less than 100 feet behind the two homes. A smaller sinkhole, about four feet in diameter, opened behind the Davison home. Authorities said there were a few other smaller sinkholes in the Ocala area, all blamed on the torrential rain the area received Saturday.

At the city's official rain gauge located at the Ocala Water Treatment Plant off Southeast 36th Avenue, 3.5 inches of rain fell between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Sunday, most falling Saturday afternoon. In Southwest Ocala on Saturday, 3.3 inches of rain was reported. "That's the most 24-hour total we've had in more than a year," said Bob Breitenbecker, who has weather measuring equipment that meets National Weather Service standards.

In the Ocala National Forest, only about two inches of rain fell on Saturday. National Weather Service radar estimates show that between three and five inches fell on most areas here. The Ocala National Forest has had an average of nearly 13 inches of rain this month.

So far in June at Ocala's official gauge, only six inches - three inches on Saturday - have fallen. But that's far different than many other areas of Marion County, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island. In Marion's southeastern corner near Umatilla, as well as the southwestern corner near Dunnellon, as much as 16 inches of rain fell in the last seven days, according to Doppler radar rainfall estimates.

It has rained for 13 straight days in the Ocala National Forest and authorities have seen the drought index fall from 700 - or extreme fire danger - in late May to 23 on Sunday, far below a reading of 200 which means conditions are dangerous when it comes to forest fires. The index has fallen more than 520 points in two weeks.

And National Weather Service officials in Jacksonville predict that Marion County has a 70-percent chance of rain today and Tuesday, with highs only reaching the mid-80s. After a 40-percent rain chance on Wednesday, there will be a 30-percent chance of rain from Thursday through Sunday.
After the next few days, expect the area to return to a typical summertime rainfall pattern," said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Kerns of the weather pattern where winds from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean converge to produce afternoon thunderstorms.