HUDSON, Fla. — At this point, the 20 holes in Pasco County are still being called "depressions" but neighbors are concerned about the growing issue.
"I'm worried. I'm worried for everybody around here," Connie Bonett said.
Bonett has lived in the Lakeside Woodlands community since the 1980s. She says unusual ground activity is actually pretty normal.
"There's been a lot of sinkholes, everyone, nearly every home had some kind of activity," Bonett said. Her neighbor, Al Moreno, says he has a softball-sized depression in his backyard and is worried about his home.
"It looks to be as though the walls are moving a touch. I do have a sinkhole in my backyard," Moreno said.
Moreno thinks the depressions in the neighborhood are growing, a fact that concerns Bonett.
"Homeowners insurance doesn't cover your house unless your house sinks," she explains.
Joshua Butts, the owner of Cornerstone Insurance, says holes in your yard aren't covered by standard insurance.
"Your actual real estate, your 'dirt' is not gonna be covered. It’s only gonna cover damage to your home," Butts said.
And that damage has to be fairly extensive to get coverage.
"If you do have actual sinkhole damage, where you’ve had an abrupt suddenly collapse of the ground and it’s visible to the naked eye and they’ve declared your home uninhabitable, then if you have a standard insurance policy in Florida, you’re gonna be covered for that loss," Butts explained.
He says the first thing you do when you're looking for a house is to find a local agent in the area that can tell you about sinkhole activity in the area. He says there are also maps online you can consult to see in there are any sinkholes.
There is optional insurance for sinkholes, but it can be hard to get and normally has a high deductible.
"It comes with a lot of fine print where you have to meet high engineering thresholds that you have to be able to prove that your home was damaged by a sinkhole," Butts explains.
It's a fact that puts the people who live here between a rock and a hard place
"It's a shame, because we're not covered unless the house falls in. And who wants that?" Bonett said.
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