Cost of sinkhole repairs includes school closing

The Hillsborough County school district in Florida had to close Trapnell Elementary School while workers filled an underground cavern that threatened to grow into a sinkhole. The bill for that work was $900,000.

Florida (Tampa Tribune) May 11, 2010 -- Sinkholes that opened after farmers pumped billions of gallons of water to protect crops during January’s record freezes have swallowed more than $7 million in Florida taxpayer money and not all the bills have come in.

The biggest expense is fixing roads where sinkholes devoured pavement and rights of way.

Officials estimate Hillsborough County will spend $4.9 million to repair 39 sinkholes affecting county roads. Plant City will also spend $255,000 to fix a water tower where a sinkhole threatened to topple the structure.

And the county school district had to close Trapnell Elementary School while workers filled an underground cavern that threatened to grow into a sinkhole. The bill for that work was $900,000.

Plant City was especially hard hit. Fourteen sinkholes that opened since the first week of January have been filled and resurfacing of affected public roads is ongoing at a cost of about $1.6 million. Money for the road repairs comes from the city’s coffers. Four county roads remain closed nearly four months after temperatures dropped to freezing 11 nights in early January and forced strawberry farmers to pump groundwater to cover the plants and fruit.

Paving on two of the closed roads should be finished in a week or so, a spokesman for the county’s Public Works Department said. As farmers pumped nearly a billion gallons a night January 3 through January 13, groundwater levels plummeted, dropping 60 feet in some places. When the water vanished, it was unable to support the soil atop underground cavities that collapsed and formed sinkholes. The $7 million tally does not include the cost to residents who lost houses and property when the ground caved in.

Several roads in Plant City remain closed due to the repairs. Officials expect those roads to reopen by mid-June, but additional sinkholes continue to appear. In all, the district received reports of 150 sinkholes and 767 complaints about dry wells. Most dry wells were in areas where strawberry farmers were responsible for repairs.

Link: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/may/11/cost-plant-city-sinkhole-repairs-rises-7-million/news-metro/

Source: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report