A sinkhole that killed a man and swallowed his home in Florida has reopened, with the brother of the deceased opening up about what he last heard.
The sinkhole first emerged in 2013, resulting in the death of 37-year-old Jeff Bush while he slept in his Seffner, Florida home, per CNN.
Since then, the site has been surrounded by a chain-link fence to protect residents in the Tampa suburb from further incidents.
In 2015, officials attempted to fill the sinkhole with a mixture of gravel and water after it reopened.
Despite these efforts, the sinkhole has expanded, now measuring 19 feet (6 meters) wide.
Florida sinkholes can reach up to 400 feet (121 meters) in diameter, capable of swallowing cars and buildings.
"None of the homes surrounding this appear to be in any danger," said Jon-Paul Lavandeira, director of Hillsborough County code enforcement.
The sinkhole first appeared on February 28, 2013, when Jeff Bush was consumed while asleep in his bedroom.
Five others, including Jeff's brother Jeremy, escaped the partially collapsed home.
Jeremy Bush, who was 36 at the time, recounted his desperate attempt to save his brother.
"I ran in there and heard somebody screaming, my brother screaming, and I ran in there," he told My Fox Tampa Bay.
"All I see is this big hole. All I see is the top of his bed. I didn't see anything else, so I jumped in the hole and tried getting him out."
Jeff Bush's body was never recovered, and his final resting place remains unknown. The fenced-off property has since served as a grim memorial for Jeremy and his family.
"This is the only place I've got to visit him," Jeremy told WTSP-TV. "There's not a day goes by I don't think about my brother."
Lavandeira confirmed to the Associated Press that another attempt will be made to fill the sinkhole with water and gravel.
"This is not uncommon, what we're seeing here," he explained. "We received a call yesterday evening regarding the reopening of the depression, so we responded in conjunction with Fire Rescue and the Sheriff's Office."
"We ascertained that the neighboring properties were safe," Lavandeira added. "If there's a reoccurrence, it's in a controlled area. It's going to stay right there."
Sinkholes occur due to the interaction between porous limestone and other carbonate rocks that absorb the high marshy coastal water table, combined with the pressure on these volatile underground sediments.
While many sinkholes are small and fatalities are rare, some can cause significant damage.
A notable example is the 1981 Winter Park sinkhole near Orlando, which grew to 400 feet in diameter and consumed five cars, two businesses, a three-bedroom house, nearby streets, and part of an Olympic-size swimming pool, per the Daily Mail.
Although there is no indication that the Seffner sinkhole could reach such proportions, Lavandeira expressed that it will likely reopen again in the future. "This is Mother Nature," he noted. "This is not a man-made occurrence."
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