Florida authorities hold a news conference to discuss the latest in the sinkhole that appeared under a house near Tampa.
By Elizabeth Chuck and Ian Johnston, NBC News
Officials and engineers are searching an unstable area of land after a sinkhole enveloped a Florida man’s bedroom in the middle of the night, sucking him down into the earth.
The man has not been heard from since the 20-foot-deep by 20-foot-wide hole opened under part of the Bush family’s Hillsborough County home Thursday night.
“They heard a sound they described as a car crash emanating from the bedroom,” Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers said at a Friday morning news conference. “They rushed in. All they could see was part of a mattress sticking out of the hole. The floor of the room had opened.”
At that point, one of the Bush family members jumped into the hole to try to rescue his brother, who the family could hear – but not see – in the sinkhole, Rogers said.
Rescue personnel arrived on the scene and were able to free the man who jumped in, but not his brother. They were forced to abandon the house as the ground continued shifting overnight. Once they came back with an engineering team and better equipment, they were able to resume their efforts.
On Friday morning, Rogers refused to discuss the possibility that the man was not alive. “The sooner we can locate the victim and determine his status, the better.”
However, he added, "We have to make sure we don't endanger other personnel or other people in the process. It doesn't help to compound the situation."
Flanking Rogers at the news conference was Bill Bracken, president of Bracken Engineering, a Florida-based firm called in to assist with the rescue. Bracken told reporters that while the sinkhole itself was 20 feet wide, its “safety zone” – the land around it that was considered unstable – extended out 100 feet.
“It started in the bedroom and has been expanding, taking the house with it,” he said.
Engineers are capturing three-dimensional photos of the soil and receiving other data of the area to figure out the best way to stop the spread of the sinkhole, Bracken said.
The Bush family and neighbors on both sides have been evacuated and are receiving assistance from The Red Cross. Officials did not know if the neighborhood, located near Tampa, has had problems with sinkholes in the past.
Sinkholes are relatively common in Florida, but do not always cause injury or major destruction or disruption.
"Florida is made out of limestone. There's a lot of groundwater that goes through the limestone and can erode the limestone away. As the water table rises and falls, sometimes those voids in the limestone can't support the weight that is on top of them, and they cave in," Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz said, adding that there are numerous other scenarios that can cause sinkholes.
Some sinkholes form depressions in the ground first; some collapse immediately. In this family's case, Puz said, "it happened very quickly," but officials don't know what processes were happening underground, and for how long, before the sinkhole ripped open their home.
Rescue efforts are underway in Florida to find a missing man who may be in a sinkhole that swallowed at least two bedrooms of the house. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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By Elizabeth Chuck and Ian Johnston, NBC News
Officials and engineers are searching an unstable area of land after a sinkhole enveloped a Florida man’s bedroom in the middle of the night, sucking him down into the earth.
The man has not been heard from since the 20-foot-deep by 20-foot-wide hole opened under part of the Bush family’s Hillsborough County home Thursday night.
“They heard a sound they described as a car crash emanating from the bedroom,” Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers said at a Friday morning news conference. “They rushed in. All they could see was part of a mattress sticking out of the hole. The floor of the room had opened.”
At that point, one of the Bush family members jumped into the hole to try to rescue his brother, who the family could hear – but not see – in the sinkhole, Rogers said.
Rescue personnel arrived on the scene and were able to free the man who jumped in, but not his brother. They were forced to abandon the house as the ground continued shifting overnight. Once they came back with an engineering team and better equipment, they were able to resume their efforts.
On Friday morning, Rogers refused to discuss the possibility that the man was not alive. “The sooner we can locate the victim and determine his status, the better.”
However, he added, "We have to make sure we don't endanger other personnel or other people in the process. It doesn't help to compound the situation."
Flanking Rogers at the news conference was Bill Bracken, president of Bracken Engineering, a Florida-based firm called in to assist with the rescue. Bracken told reporters that while the sinkhole itself was 20 feet wide, its “safety zone” – the land around it that was considered unstable – extended out 100 feet.
“It started in the bedroom and has been expanding, taking the house with it,” he said.
Engineers are capturing three-dimensional photos of the soil and receiving other data of the area to figure out the best way to stop the spread of the sinkhole, Bracken said.
The Bush family and neighbors on both sides have been evacuated and are receiving assistance from The Red Cross. Officials did not know if the neighborhood, located near Tampa, has had problems with sinkholes in the past.
Sinkholes are relatively common in Florida, but do not always cause injury or major destruction or disruption.
"Florida is made out of limestone. There's a lot of groundwater that goes through the limestone and can erode the limestone away. As the water table rises and falls, sometimes those voids in the limestone can't support the weight that is on top of them, and they cave in," Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz said, adding that there are numerous other scenarios that can cause sinkholes.
Some sinkholes form depressions in the ground first; some collapse immediately. In this family's case, Puz said, "it happened very quickly," but officials don't know what processes were happening underground, and for how long, before the sinkhole ripped open their home.
Rescue efforts are underway in Florida to find a missing man who may be in a sinkhole that swallowed at least two bedrooms of the house. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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