Guests saved as US building falls into sinkhole

A section of the Summer Bay Resort lies collapsed after a large sinkhole opened on the property's grounds in Clermont, Florida August 12, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

SINKHOLE TROUBLES

Sinkholes in Florida are relatively common, caused by the state's porous geological bedrock of limestone. As acidic rainwater filters into the ground, it dissolves the rock, causing erosion that can lead to underground caverns, resulting in the sinkhole's collapse.

"One woman was sitting in the tub and the tub levitated and that's when she just grabbed a pair of shorts and came out," resort guest Maggie Ghamry told WFTV. She said another couple with an infant had to smash through a window after the door frame in the room collapsed.

Liz Evans, 57, a bank teller from North Carolina, watched the collapse with her grandsons from a nearby unit that lost electricity but was not evacuated. She said it was slow-moving and punctuated by creaking and cracking noises.

"It was like a rockslide coming down," Evans said.

The collapsed building had two wings of 12 units each, connected by an elevator tower in the breezeway.

Julian and Maggie Moreno of San Antonio, Texas, were staying with their daughter and two grandchildren in a two-bedroom suite opposite the collapsed building when they heard police in the hall yelling for everyone to "grab stuff and get out."

Julian Moreno tossed suitcases off a third-floor balcony. As they left the suite their door was already jamming, leading them to believe their building was also sinking.

Several dozen evacuated guests were being housed in other buildings on the property, about six miles from Walt Disney World, the resort said.

In March, a sinkhole under a Tampa-area home opened and swallowed the bedroom of 37-year-old landscaper Jeff Bush, whose body was never recovered.

In 1981, in Winter Park near Orlando, a sinkhole measuring 320-feet wide (98 meters) and 90-feet deep swallowed a two-story house, part of a Porsche dealership and an Olympic-size swimming pool. The site is now an artificial lake.