At least four homes damaged by sinkholes in Polk, Plant City

A day before the ground caved in, creaking sounds echoed through Cory Greenway's house.

He wasn't worried at the time.

"I didn't think anything about it with this cold weather and whatever," Greenway said. "I didn't think anything."

Then on Monday morning, the earth near his carport crumbled. The ground moved, blocks cracked and trees tumbled.

"I just can't believe it," Greenway said after a sinkhole about 30 yards wide and 50 feet deep opened on the property his parents have lived on for about 40 years. "I mean, you could definitely hear all those sounds."

His home was one of at least four damaged by sinkholes Monday, including three in Plant City.

In Polk, authorities closed County Road 630 near U.S. 27 on Monday morning after the sinkhole swallowed about a dozen trees and a well behind Greenway's house. Three residents of the Southern Pines mobile home park, adjacent to Greenway's property, were evacuated, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Randy Mangrum, the park's property manager, said he got the first call about the sinkhole at 9:30 a.m. By early afternoon, it appeared the worst was over. The cavity stopped just short of Greenway's carport.

"We've seen a few chunks fall since I've been here," Mangrum said. "Nothing major."

The Southwest Florida Water Management District will monitor and take measurements to see if the sinkhole is growing. The cause of the cavity is under investigation. Polk deputies will remain in the area directing traffic on C.R. 630 until the district determines the surrounding area is no longer threatened by the sinkhole, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said.

The American Red Cross provided relief for affected residents. Greenway, 29, said his friends helped him move furniture and items of sentimental value into a storage trailer. He said he is comforting his father, Bobby Greenway, 72, who also lives in the house.

"My dad was in a very big panic," Cory Greenway said. "He was not doing good. This is his home for 40 years."

In Plant City, Nancy Regan was forced to flee from her home in Oakbrook Mobile Home Park near State Road 574 and Turkey Creek Road about 10 a.m. Monday.

Regan said she was working on her computer when she heard a noise and one of her dogs starting barking. She assumed her boyfriend, Rick Crabtree, a carpenter, was doing some work at first.

"I thought Rick was working in the house but then a neighbor banged on the door and screamed to get out," Regan said.

The door wouldn't open and Regan handed her two dogs out a window to a neighbor, Edgar Mansilla, who then helped the woman crawl out of the window.

Her mobile home was left tilting into a 6-foot slope created by the sinkhole. Residences on either side of the home on Oakwood Lane were threatened by the cavity.

Park maintenance manager Arthur Hunzeker said this was the first sinkhole in the park he could recall. Jessica Santos, the property manager, said she was working with the city to decide what to do, including if neighboring mobile homes should be vacated. City police and code enforcement officials were at the park. .

Another sinkhole opened up at about 9 a.m. in the Walden Lake subdivision off Sandalwood Drive in Plant City. A resident noticed creaking sounds and saw the ground around the home was sinking, separating the foundation, walls and roofing. The neighbor's house also shifted 3 to 6 inches, severing the underground water lines and cracking the foundation.