A sinkhole, 100 feet in diameter, swallowed parts of a resort building at Summer Bay Resort in Florida, just within distance of Disney world, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The resort collapsed around 11 p.m. and according to the Orlando Sentinel, about 30 percent of the three-story structure collapsed hours later, around 3 a.m. Monday, Lake County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Tony Cuellar said. No one was injured, but about three dozen visitors at the resort left personal belongings behind while being evacuated.
As one building suffered extensive destruction, two neighboring buildings were being evaluated for possible damage and structural integrity.
"After the geologists' initial survey here, they've indicated it is what they describe as a classic Florida sinkhole about 100 feet in diameter and on a preliminary basis, they do not have a concern that it is growing or will grow," Summer Bay resort president Paul Caldwell told the Times.
According to Los Angeles Times, Caldwell said the U.S. Geological Survey is expected to begin drilling and testing the environment Monday afternoon. Some reports suggest no information will be available about whether the sinkhole is growing until it's tested.
The unit that fell at Summer Bay is numbered Building 103 and 104, but are considered to be one building. Each unit has two bedrooms and two baths, officials said.
Firefighters arriving on the scene immediately went door-to-door to help guests escape. The American Red Cross were on scene to assist the displaced guests and some have requested psychological counseling, officials said.
Caldwell told the Sentinel his heart sunk and he became sick after receiving a call from his staff, a little after 11 p.m. on Sunday that the 15-year-old buildings full of guests was sinking into the ground.
"No doubt there would've been injuries if they hadn't gotten the building evacuated," said Caldwell, during a news conference Monday while praising the reaction of his staff and security guards who raced to get people out.
According to USA Today, visitor Maggie Ghamry, was visiting Summer Bay from Gainesville, VA., with a girlfriend and their children. They were residing in Building 104, the structure that was completely destroyed.
"We checked in at 5:30 and by 11:30 all our belongings were gone, except for our bathing suits and our lives, which we're thankful for," the 27-year-old Ghamry said. "It sounded like a fight - like multiple people with aluminum baseball bats who were swinging them against the windows, and then one window broke."
Ghamry said she grabbed everyone and they ran out of the building. But what they saw outside, she said, was most terrifying. She described it as being a beer in head lights.
"You don't see a building every day twisting around like it was in a vortex and coming down around you, and seeing the room you would have slept in with three toddlers sink 50 feet into the ground and then two floors collapsing on top of them," said Ghamry, according to USA Today.
For displaced guests, Caldwell told the Sentinel families are being accommodated for and others will be housed at other local properties.
"We are authorizing cash advances as needed, some have to buy clothes," Caldwell said. "We are going to do whatever we can to do whatever is right. We are in the hospitality business and we want to save our guests' vacation."
However, Sunday night's sinkhole is not usual.
In March, a 50-feet deep sinkhole swallowed 37-year-old Jeffrey Bush while he was sleeping inside his Seffner home. The home was condemned and Bush was declared dead. Three years ago, sinkholes collapsed lanes of U.S. Highway 27 in east Polk County.
