WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Winter Haven Police Department (WHPD) said engineers are on site after a tunnel formed between two retention ponds.
Police said emergency crews arrived on Intermodal Drive on the evening of Oct. 9 and initially described a large sinkhole near a construction site, but it later became clear that it was just a retention pond under construction.
Watch report from Mary O'Connell
WHPD explained that there is an existing retention pond across Intermodal Drive from the new construction. Police said as excavation work continued, a siphoning effect happened between the two ponds, which caused water from the existing pond to flow underground toward the new one. That created a tunnel under the road connecting the two ponds.
Intermodel Drive was closed out of an abundance of caution. The road itself is still intact, but the underground cavity beneath it must be evaluated before it reopens, per WHPD.
Engineers are on site assessing the situation and trying to figure out the best way to fill and stabilize the area.
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