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County: Cold Snap Behind Recent Sinkholes

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2009

Blame it on the strawberries.

The recent cold snap that had Plant City farmers pumping ground water to spray onto their berries has caused a rash of sinkholes: on Whitelaw Road, Moore Lake Road, Gallagher Road, Sydney Road, Lone Oak Road and Drawdy Road.

"Whenever you have a drought and a quick withdrawal of groundwater … it causes a drop in the groundwater level," Hillsborough County Public Works spokesman Steve Valdez said. "That creates voids."

County officials have closed the two-lane roads and can't say when they'll reopen until it's determined the roads have stopped sinking. At this point, workers are removing the asphalt to take a look.

They'll fill the voids with sand to see if it sinks into the ground. If the void is stable, the sand will stay in place and work crews can fill the hole and pave it over.

If the sand sinks, they'll have to wait until it stabilizes. "We don't even know if they've stopped sinking," Valdez said.

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