By Doug Stanglin and Michael Winter, USA TODAY
After demolition work Monday revealed the giant sinkhole that
swallowed a Tampa-area man as he slept Thursday night, crews began
filling in the chasm that will be his grave.
During a brief
ceremony at 4 p.m., the family of 37-year-old Jeffrey Bush placed a
teddy bear, a photo, notes and flowers into the bucket of a backhoe,
which dropped them into the estimated 60-foot-deep hole in Seffner,
about 15 miles east of Tampa. Then came a truckload of gravel, the first
in the process of filling in the yawning hole that ended Bush's life
without warning.
Bush's brother, Jeremy, said he hopes the site
will one day include a bench or tombstone so his parents can visit their
son's grave.
Throughout the day, crews using a crane and a
backhoe continued work begun Sunday to knock down the house from a safe
distance after it was determined the ground was too unstable to a
conduct rescue operation. Firefighters picked through the debris to
retrieve valuables and keepsakes.
Crews are expected to finish
removing its foundation Tuesday, and officials will then work to
determine the exact dimensions of the hole.
Hillsborough County
spokesman Willie Puz said crews would then "stabilize the hole," though
he would not say exactly what would be done.
As demolition of the
Bush house continued Monday afternoon, emergency crews responded to a
report of another, smaller sinkhole about two miles away. Officials
estimated the newest hole at about 10 feet deep but said there was no
structural damage or danger to residents.
Bush vanished into the estimated 60-foot-deep hole that opened under his bedroom in
His
distraught brother, Jeremy, questioned whether rescue teams did enough
initially to try to reach him beneath the mud and debris.
"You see
all this heavy equipment?" Jeremy Bush told a group of reporters
Monday. "They could have tried harder to get my brother out of there."
Jeremy
had gone into the hole when it opened up Thursday night in a vain
attempt to rescue Jeff, but couldn't find him. A deputy summoned by a
911 call had to pull Jeremy out from the unstable sinkhole, which was
still caving in.
With demolition crews prepared for second day of
work to knock down the remaining walls of the house, Jeremy Bush
anguished over the loss of his brother, whose body has not been
recovered.
"My mom and dad are going through hell right now," he said.
Five others in the house escaped harm, including Jeremy, who ran to the room after hearing his brother screaming for help.
Rescue
operations were called off by Hillsborough County officials Saturday,
forcing Bush's family to sift through pieces of debris Sunday to salvage
whatever they could. They retrieved three carloads of clothes,
computers, wallets and purses.
"We were able to get a couple
family photos," county fire rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said.
"They pulled out the only photo they had of their grandmother."
The remainder of the house and its contents will be dragged toward
the street so crews can recover items inside and keep debris from
falling into the hole, Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz said
Monday. He said authorities were still not certain exactly how big the
sinkhole is.
The crews demolishing the house are using cranes and other equipment from a distance because of the unstable ground.
The
home was owned by Leland Wicker, the grandfather of Jeremy Bush's
girlfriend, Rachel Wicker. On Sunday, Wicker's daughter, Wanda Carter,
cradled the large family Bible where they stored baptism certificates,
cards and photos.
"It means that God is still in control, and he knew we need this for closure," Wanda Carter said.
The
Rev. John Martin Bell of Shoals Baptist Church said he prayed with the
Bush family Sunday morning. He said the family needs support and
prayers.
The recovery work Sunday was especially difficult because
officials deemed the entire property unstable, forcing crews to use the
long arm of a backhoe.
Damico said the two neighboring houses also have been vacated and could be condemned because of the sinkhole.
Hillsborough
County Administrator Mike Merrill said engineers want to get a better
look at the sinkhole Monday after more of the Bush house is torn away.
Demolition crews will work slowly through the week to finish razing the house and stabilize the now-shaky ground.
Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because of caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.
Thousands
of sinkholes develop in Florida and other states each year - many of
them swallowing buildings and vehicles. What is unusual about the
Seffner sinkhole is the loss of life.
Anthony Randazzo, a former
University of Florida geology professor who now works for Geohazards
Inc., a company that specializes in evaluating sinkholes, said he could
recall only two people dying as a result of sinkholes in the four
decades he has studied and worked on them. Both those cases occurred in
Florida when people drilling water wells created the sinkholes.
"Usually,
you have some time," Randazzo said. "These catastrophic sinkholes give
you some warning over the course of hours. This is very unusual and very
tragic."
Contributing: Alan Gomez; John Bacon; The Associated Press