Crews work to backfill Seffner’s death crater for the third time
SEFFNER, Florida (TodayNews) — Crews worked Monday to fill a death crater in Seffner.
Surveillance video from a nearby house showed the hole had opened a third time.
The situation brings back painful memories for those close to Jeffrey Bush. In 2013, Bush was sleeping in his house when the floor collapsed underneath him.
“I live it every day,” said Jeremy Bush, brother of Geoffrey Bush. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my brother and what happened. I can still hear him screaming my name to help me.”
The body of Geoffrey Bush was never recovered from the pit.
The funnel reopened in 2015. The sinkhole is now surrounded by two layers of fencing, and the houses on either side have been demolished.
John-Paul Lavandeira of Hillsborough County Code Enforcement says the hole in the skin measures 19 feet x 16 feet and is 19 feet deep.
“This is a hole about the same size and almost in the same place as in 2015,” he said.
According to Lavandeira, they plan to fill the hole with gravel and water. This is the same method that was used before.
“He controls it, effectively making it repeat itself in the same place,” he said. “You don’t want it to be a ‘Hit the Mole’ game, not here and there, or whatever it grows.”
Lavandeira acknowledges that there is a chance that the funnel will reopen in the future. It is expected that once work begins, the process of refilling the pit will take up to 3 days.
