What happens when you pump out the water

You get sinkholes. This one appeared locally around 10am today. Two more showed up later on in different areas.

Frostproof Sinkhole Swallows Shed, Threatens Neighborhood

Frostproof, FL - A 90-foot-wide sinkhole has swallowed a shed and is threatening to take a nearby house and neighborhood in Frostproof.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has blocked the roadway of CR 630 in Frostproof because of the sinkhole.

Deputies evacuated residents from three mobile homes in the Southern Pines Mobile Home Park, a 40-acre neighborhood located off of CR 630, but they were allowed back into their homes about 3 p.m.

James Keene, director of public works for Frostproof, said the sinkhole was reported in the area of Murray Lane and County Road 630 at 10:19 a.m. Monday. Within 90 minutes, it created a 40-foot cavern in the ground.

"It's done that much damage just that fast," he said Monday morning. "Now the foundation on the house is cracking."

Authorities said the sinkhole may have formed after citrus growers in the area pumped water from the ground to protect their crops from days of bitter cold. Temperatures in East Polk hovered in the 20s this morning, the latest in a series of frigid mornings across Central Florida.

Growers in East Polk, with rolling acres of citrus groves, have been watering their trees to insulate the fruit.

Polk County Sheriff's deputies and city officials are watching the hole now to see how much more it will spread. The house has been evacuated, Keene said. He didn't know the owner's name.

The entire Winter Haven area is a gallery of sinkholes large and small: