TAMPA, Fla. -- A sinkhole that officials said earlier on this Friday started out the size of a small swimming pool soon mushroomed, swallowing one home and a boat and then about 80 percent of another home, said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County's assistant county administrator for public safety.
By mid-afternoon, the hole stretched up to 250 feet (76 meters) wide and 50 feet (15 meters) deep, and threatened to damage a third home, Guthrie said.
As ported by ABC News, Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told reporters that no one was home when crews responded to a call about a "depression" under a boat in the backyard of a house in Lake Padgett Estates in Land O'Lakes. Within minutes, he said, "the hole opened up" and the boat fell in. Officials say Duke Energy cut power to about 100 homes in the neighborhood. The American Red Cross is assisting residents who've been displaced.
-- Henry Frederick, Headline Surfer