KATHLEEN, Fla. — Destruction during Hurricane Milton came not just from the sky but underneath the ground.
Two families in Polk County are still out of their homes tonight after a large hole opened up sometime overnight last Thursday during Milton. Neighbors tell 10 Tampa Bay that one of the families just had a baby.
With lots of children in this quiet neighborhood, one parent is worried for their safety.
“Scared,” Alicia Garcia said, who lives across the street. “Because it's too close to home.”
She says when she ventured out to look at the damage after Milton, the whole neighborhood was gathered by the two homes which are currently abandoned.
“It's quite big, and we don't know what happened or how did that happen,” she said.
Polk County says they don’t know for sure if it’s a true sinkhole caused by erosion or a ground collapse from another cause.
“We do not have any additional information at this time,” county spokesperson Jeff Foley said. “We cannot speculate on the cause/nature of the event.”
Garcia’s concern about the hole is only growing. She thinks it actually grew larger on Tuesday. Her worry is not just for her family, but also the future value of her property.
“I was just telling my husband that I’ve been very worried about the property values going down because of it,” she said. “What if it continues to run, you know, what if it gets bigger?”
With a partially collapsed home, a sunken pick-up covered in trees and a foundation suspended in the air, Garcia will keep checking if the danger grows too.
“Hoping that it doesn't happen to anyone else because it's just sad,” she said. “When you buy a house, you're not expecting something like that to happen.”
The county also says they won’t get involved unless the hole encroaches on the right of way. As for an insurance claim, it could be tricky because first a geologist has to say it’s an actual sinkhole and any policy must have separate sinkhole coverage.