Flarida man swallowed by a 100-foot sinkhole under his bed feared dead

Jeremy Bush, brother of Jeff Bush, breaks down as he speaks to the media about attempting to rescue Jeff as he disappeared in a sinkhole Friday.(Photo: Chris Oâ€™Meara AP)

Rescue teams, unable to stay inside the unstable structure, lowered a microphone and video equipment into the hole but have not heard from the victim.

â€œWe put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didnâ€™t see anything compatible with life,â€ Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said.

Houses on both sides of the damaged structure have also been evacuated.

Damico said that at the surface the sinkhole is about 30 feet across, but officials say the sinkhole spreads to about 100 feet across below the surface.

An engineer told The Tampa Tribune that the situation was â€œunprecedented.â€ He said the edges are steep and unstable, so the hole is likely to grow.

Janell Wheeler told the Tampa Bay Times she was inside the house with four other adults, a child and two dogs when the sinkhole opened.

â€œIt sounded like a car hit my house,â€ she said.

It was dark. She remembered screams and one of her nephews rushing to rescue his brother, trapped in the debris.

Wheelerâ€™s house was condemned. The rest of the family went to a hotel, but she stayed behind with her dog, sleeping in her car.

â€œI just want my nephew,â€ she said through tears.

Anthony Randazzo, an expert in sinkholes, said he knows of only two people â€” both in Florida â€” who have died because of a sinkhole in 40 years of studying the geological phenomenon.

â€œUsually, you have some time,â€ said Randazzo, who has lectured on sinkholes at Oxford University. â€œThese catastrophic sinkholes give you some warning over the course of hours. This is very unusual and very tragic.â€

Sinkholes are a fairly common occurrence not just in Florida. There have been many cases of massive sinkholes developing in different areas around the country, including:

In November, a sinkhole the size of four football fields opened outside the town of Dover, Ohio, and tore up State Route 516. State transportation officials said it would take several months to repair the road.
In August, an 8.6-acre sinkhole developed over a mining operation in southeastern Louisiana that prompted the evacuation of 150 homes nearby and filled the hole with oil and natural gas. The state Legislature is now holding hearings to determine how much Texas Brine Co., LLC, the owner of the mine, must reimburse the homeowners.
In 2008, a 900-foot wide sinkhole in Daisetta, Texas, swallowed a tractor, oil field equipment, several vehicles and telephone poles. The hole filled with groundwater and an alligator moved in from a nearby swamp.
In 2002, a sinkhole developed under a barn in Sanford, Fla., collapsing the structure and killing two horses.

Sinkholes typically form when the ground beneath an area slowly dissolves and can no longer support the weight above it. Areas with limestone underneath the surface are highly susceptible because of how easily it dissolves.

There are several ways to spot a developing sinkhole. According to the Southwest Florida Water Management District, slumping or sagging fence posts or trees are a clear sign. Doors and windows that donâ€™t close properly and small ponds of rainfall forming where water has not collected before are also signs.