() — In west-central Florida, a sinkhole reopened that killed a man about 10 years ago when it opened up under his bedroom, authorities said this week.
It is the third time the sinkhole has opened in Seffner, about 15 miles east of Tampa.
After the hole claimed the life of Jeff Bush in 2013, when it was submerged tens of feet underground, Hillsborough County filled in the hole and bought the property and house next door to make sure no one lived too close. Then, in 2015, the hole reopened—about 20 feet wide at the time—and filled in again. No one was injured in the 2015 reopening.
On Monday, county officials were informed that the sinkhole had reopened, said Jon-Paul Lavandeira, director of the county’s code enforcement division. Officials ensured that surrounding communities were not affected and informed nearby residents that it was safe to stay in their homes, the county said in a news release.
A sinkhole cleanup contractor visited the site on Tuesday to draw up a plan. Authorities have not yet been able to determine what caused the sinkhole to reopen, a county spokesperson told .
Repair work could begin as early as Friday, spokesman Todd Pratt said. The contractor expects the hole to be filled with 150 tons of a gravel-water mixture, Pratt added.
The site is closed to the public, surrounded by two layers of fencing, the county said.
Bush’s brother, Jeremy Bush, told affiliate WFTSthat seeing the sinkhole open again is a chilling reminder of the terrifying night in 2013 when she heard her brother scream for help before he collapsed to the ground.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my brother,” she told the news station this week. “The things that happened in that house that night, and hearing my brother yell and yell for me to help him, I hear it all the time.”
A Jeffrey Bush memorial photographed near the reopened sinkhole. (Credit: Hillsborough County)
He asked for help and immediately disappeared into the sinkhole.
Jeremy Bush, who was in the house when the sinkhole opened in February 2013, tried by all means to save his brother after hearing him cry for help, he told that year. When he got to his brother’s room, it was already destroyed.
“Everything had disappeared. My brother’s bed, my brother’s dresser, my brother’s television. My brother had disappeared,” he said then.
He desperately tried to rescue his brother, climbing into the hole and digging through the rubble with a shovel. Authorities came and pulled Jeremy Bush out, telling him the ground kept collapsing.
Jeremy Bush and four others, including a 2-year-old boy, escaped from the blue, one-story 1970s house that sat on top of the sinkhole.
Jeff Bush’s remains were never recovered.
Sinkholes are common in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The state sits on bedrock of limestone or other carbonate rocks that can be corroded by acidic groundwater, forming cavities that collapse when the rock can no longer support the weight of what’s on top.
