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Officials first thought the opening on Sixth Avenue in Zephyrhills was a sinkhole.
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 18, 2002
ZEPHYRHILLS -- It had humble beginnings, but on Tuesday a mysterious hole along Sixth Avenue snared its second vehicle and forced police to close a road for more than an hour.
At first it was considered a sinkhole, but officials later declared the hole a result of erosion caused by a leaky sewer pipe.
The hole opened Sunday night in the 39000 block of Sixth Avenue. Heather Palmer said her son backed his car out of her driveway and a front wheel sank into the soft earth as it collapsed beneath him.
It wasn't a big deal, she said. Neighbors helped pull the car out, and on Monday morning a city crew filled the hole -- about 2 feet across and 5 or 6 feet deep -- with dirt. Workers drove a truck across the area to pack the soil, and Palmer said she considered the case closed.
It was back just before 9 a.m. Tuesday.
"I pulled in, just to turn around, and it felt like I was stuck on a small bump. All of a sudden, the truck did one of these numbers," said Steve Cascio, demonstrating with his hand how his Ford F150 nosed sharply to the ground.
When police arrived, Cascio's green truck had the left front wheel hanging precariously into a hole that had grown to about 5 feet across, and stretched underground beneath Palmer's driveway.
Police blocked the road while public works and utilities crews used boards and a hydraulic jack to pop the truck free.
Zephyrhills police Sgt. Randy Grimm said the road would reopen and remain open as long as the hole stayed in Palmer's yard and under her driveway. If earth from beneath Sixth Avenue gave out, Grimm said the city would have to close it.
Public Works director Rick Moore said crews used a camera to scope a nearby sewer pipe Tuesday and found a leak. The leak in combination with heavy rain eroded the dirt along the pipe, Moore said.
The pipe was replaced Tuesday.
Palmer said she was surprised when Cascio's truck sank into her yard.
"I just heard a boom," she said. "My son looked out the window and said, 'Mom, the hole's back.' "
She said city workers already told her the damage is on a city right of way, and the city would pay for the repairs.