For 18 years, Thomas Manus called 4604 Country Hills Court N. home. But now, Manus and his family have had to walk away from their house without knowing when — or even if — they can return.
Manus and his family have been living in a motel, after he discovered a sinkhole forming underneath his back porch.
“It’s hard,” Manus said. “Being in this place. Can’t go back home.”
Manus said at about 4 p.m. June 8, he heard a car crash off Turkey Creek Road, just behind his house. At the same time, the ground began to shake.
He went outside to check out the car accident. But what he found in his own backyard was cause for much more concern.
Noticing a hole underneath the patio, he called the insurance company.
A police officer also responded to the house. In a computer-aided dispatch report, the officer noted the hole was about 2 feet in diameter and split off into three different directions — about 6 to 8 feet under the house; about 10 feet under the porch; and an unknown distance into the back yard.
The next week, the sinkhole had been filled in with concrete as a temporary fix, and two pylons also had been installed for stabilization.
City code enforcement, fire rescue officials, two city engineers and an insurance adjustor have been on the property this week evaluating the sinkhole. Bartow-based Madrid Engineering also has taken sonograms of property from inside and outside the house.
Manus has been told the sinkhole is situated in the backyard but that movement has been detected in the front yard, as well. He also has been told that the sinkhole is limited to just his lot. He has no idea how big it may be or if he’ll be able to live in the house again.
“It’s been an ordeal,” Manus said.
Manus lived at the home with his wife, Tina, daughter, Lindsey, and his granddaughter.
“My grandbaby’s only 10 months old, but even she’s attached to (the house),” Manus said.
The family was advised to move out of the property. Manus said about 48 people showed up, some he didn’t even know, to help them move their belongings. Members of the Plant City Church of God and Plant City’s First Baptist Church were among the movers.
A code enforcement official said this was the first sinkhole discovered in the neighborhood.