4 sinkholes open in central Florida retirement community

THE VILLAGES, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Four sinkholes have opened up in a fast-growing retirement community in Florida, including one in front of a home that was abandoned months ago because of an earlier sinkhole.

"This big thing is unbelievable," said Frank Neumann, as he pointed to the largest of the new sinkholes that swallowed part of his front yard and the street in front of it, in The Villages.  

These four new formations are adding to the sinkholes found in his yard, his neighbor's yard, and the golf course behind them, back in February.  

"They started in the house next to me in the front yard by her front door. The second one was between the two houses. The third one was was at the end of my lot.  The fourth one is at the other side of the side of the golf course path, and the next one was in the pond and there was a couple more in the pond," said Neumann.  

Those sinkholes forced him out of his home of 14 years, after county officials deemed it unsafe.  

"I'm 80, my wife is 78.  We don't want really want to move. We know everybody here," said Neumann.  

Last week, he hired a geologist to study the sinkholes, in hopes of getting everything fixed so he and his wife could move back in, but things keep getting worse.  

"The cracks are getting a little larger."  

These new sinkholes are just adding to the problem he says, "It makes you feel uneasy. I was wanting to fix the house. I'm starting to re-think that."  

Don Deakin is the Community Development Supervisor.  He says Mother Nature is to blame.  

"The engineers that have checked this out are convinced it was a sinkhole that caused the pipe to collapse not the pipes that caused the sink holes.  The pipe was a drain pipe not under an water pressure and it would not have the force to create the kinds of holes that occurred," said Deakin.

County officials are keeping an eye on the situation, but there's no word yet on when they'll be able to begin road repairs on McLawren Terrace.