A massive sinkhole, estimated to be 40 to 50 feet in diameter, caused a section of a central Florida resort villa to partially collapse early Monday as another section of the structure was sinking.
Visitors staying at the Summer Bay Resort in Clermont, about 10 miles west of Walt Disney World, were rushed to safety overnight after the sinkhole swallowed part of the building in which they were staying. No injuries were reported.
Around 20 people were inside the resort in Clermont, Fla. when a guest notified a security guard that a window popped in one of the rooms around 10 p.m. Sunday night. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for all guests after a second window popped, according to The Associated Press.
By 3 a.m. Monday, an entire section of the of the three-story structure, a complex of 24 apartments, collapsed into the sinkhole, Lake County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Tony Cuellar told the Associated Press.
"We were trying to doze off and we heard some shaking, glass breaking and we thought maybe it was just kids running up and down the hall," guest Maggie Ghamry told local ABC affiliate WFTV. "Next thing we know, we hear people screaming, 'Get out of the building. Get out of the building.'"
According to Amy Jedele, a resort guest who was staying with her fiance, Darren Gade, in a building about 100 yards away, the section of the building sank into the ground over the next five hours. Residents who had been inside the building described hearing what sounded like thunder and then the sound of water, as if it were a thunderstorm, Gade added.