Featured Image Credit: ABC Action News
Topics: US News, Environment, Weather, Health
Britt Jones
A man has been presumed dead after he was sucked into a sinkhole that opened underneath his bedroom in Florida.
Jeffrey Bush disappeared in March 2013 and all that could be found was a 100-foot hole in his absence.
His brother, Jeremy recalled the day of the tragedy when he heard screaming from Jeffrey's bedroom.
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It was a day he’ll never forget.
After hearing his brother suddenly ‘hollering’ his name, Jeremy raced into the room and found a giant muddy hole in the place of his sibling.
Jeremy, thinking only of saving his brother who must have been sucked into the hole, jumped into it to try and rescue him, but the mud was rising to neck level and he wasn’t able to locate him.
Recounting the day his brother vanished, Jeremy said: "The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care.
"He was screaming my name. I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him. I wanted to save my brother. But I just couldn't do nothing."
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Jeremy himself even had to be pulled out of the hole by a police officer from the Tampa Police Department.
Then later, equipment had been lowered into the sinkhole to help search for Jeffrey but no trace of him was found.
After a few days, the ground and the house were considered to be too dangerous for engineers to venture into and rescue efforts were called off.
As a result, the house was demolished, and the ground was filled with gravel.
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However, the sinkhole went on to reopen a few years later and had to be fenced off from the public as a safety precaution.
Jeremy's wife and daughter were in the house at the time of the incident, and he claimed his daughter was missing her uncle.
Jeremy said: "She keeps asking where her Uncle Jeff is. I lost everything. I work so hard to support my wife and kid and I lost everything."
But as Jeffrey has been missing for a decade, he has now been presumed dead.
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But this is nothing new for the state of Florida, which is prone to sinkholes due to the limestone underneath the soil which can melt in the rain.
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection database, there were about 27,000 reported sinkhole incidents across the state in 2022.
However, sinkholes aren’t just limited to Florida and happen around the world.
For example, in 2020, a sinkhole opened up outside a shopping mall on Cuibai Avenue in Yibin, which swallowed up twenty one cars.
In the UK, a woman, Laura Gerber stepped into what she thought was a puddle, only to fall down a 10 foot hole.
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So, remaining cautious and being aware of your surroundings is essential.