Winter Park Florida Sinkhole (1981 / 2008)

[jamiewallaceable]

What happened to the sports cars?

[DogFoodDetective]

Well done! You are a good reporter. That is scary. To think there used to be houses there and they just suddenly sink. So scary. Did anyone get hurt or die? Are those expensive cars still in the hole under the water??

[THEPIANOMONSTUH]

Fantastic Video. Thanks for posting it KKD-1247. Is that a Class "D" Citizens Radio call sign? Just curious...

_Jerry, WA2ZOA

[claatu]

In Italy the hole would have been used as illegal nuclear dump waste from Germany held by Camorra (naples' mafia / aka local right wing and left wing politicians), plus a mozzarella farm right nearby or on top of it.

[archona54]

Thanks for sharing. Great vid and good seeing this again after so many years...

[GenSeg1]

any comments that this is fake?!.. of course this is sooooo real.. thanks for sharing this great history. One of a kind video..

[MSJewelryAU]

I lived @ 2021 Taylor Ave Winter Park in 1981.The sinkhole was a big deal.I had been to the pool 3 days earlier & my father owned a town home 3 blocks from it.I moved away in 1982, & have never been back, yet.One day i would like to visit.Fairbanks ,Ave.Park Ave. & Aloma Ave. are the busiest streets in Winter Park.

[entengle]

At 2:45, one of the greatest COMB-OVERs in the world. Bigger than the sinkhole!

[cjhdancer1]

I got the biggest kick out of Holler Chevrolet's advertising response to the sinkhole. Within days of the sinkhole forming and while all the commotion was still going, they changed the endings to their radio commercials to something like this, "Holler Chevrolet; near the new lake in Winter Park."

The first time I heard it, I almost had to pull my car over, because I was laughing so hard. What had happened wasn’t funny, but I thought their response was. It was some much needed comic relief.

[ExtremePeppers]

I remember that. I was 13 and we just moved to Lakeland.

[leonardo1480]

good review of past to the present

[LikaLaruku]

Reminds me of the flood in Sparks, NV, only in reverse. Helm's (Gravel) Pit took in the water & saved a massive area from flooding. It was latter turned into a beach with white sand imported from Tahoe. A beach in the godforsaken sagebrushy desert.

[jmeove]

Porsche 928! Damn!

[cjhdancer1]

@jmeove It was rescued.

[09redneckgirl]

that got real cheesy real quick at the end lmao!!

[scorand]

great vid. i remember seeing this on the news. happy that you saved the video.. yea beta max

[teachingmrsbrooks]

Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it.



[frankin235]

Thanks, great job.

[WikaBraun]

8-(

[O7ROADKING]

great video thanks for sharing

[loungecruz]

awesome, in 1981 it was so cool to see on the news .

Now "central FLA" is so whored out who knowes the diff.

[locusmem]

The earth is alive!

[Zooni2]

Great job, so many times we see the tragity but thats it. Thanks again.

[KlingonSpider]

I like your style

[HigherWaysWoman]

Very Well Done!!! Quite a treasure having "original" footage of it occuring...priceless! It's amazing that out of tragedy something beautiful can take its place. Bless the people hearts who lost their homes n property to this devestation & the guy whose collection of vehicles were taken...AGONIZING!! Good choice in accompanying music...fit the tranquility of the place quite nicely. Thank you for sharing your vintage & updated video...enjoyed watching it very much.

[MrCohibaboy]

is there any fish in there now ?

[philfanatic135]

It's John Madden

[gwinplumbr]

they should arrest that sink hole!!

[jeepers2655]

Happy sinkhole di mayo......LOL

[iamonacomputer000]

Are the cars still down there?

[cjhdancer1]

@iamonacomputer000 A few are, but the ones you see in the video were rescued.

[BahoUtot]

Cool vid

[eeljunior1]

Maybe thats how all lakes are formed.

[Feff0927]

That summer my family visited family in Winter Park. I had never seen anything like it. We stayed with them and they lived not too far away from the sinkhole. My great aunt and uncle have since passed away and I have not been back in the area since. I hope to see the new lake someday.

[Feff0927]

That summer my family visited family in Winter Park. I had never seen anything like it. We stayed with them and they lived not too far away from the sinkhole. My great aunt and uncle have since passed away and I have not been back in the area since. I hope to see the new lake someday.

[Feff0927]

I visited my late great aunt and uncle in Winter Park that year. I had never seen anything like it. My aunt and uncle are now gone and I have not been to Winter Park since. I sure hope to see the new park one day.

[amyisindallas]

Thanks for sharing this. It's a piece of history. I guess Betamax retains visual better than VHS. Most stuff recorded around this time is horrid looking and dark. I remember Betamax from when I was a kid.

[iownyoubigtime]

chuck norris sneezed

[iownyoubigtime]

and god said... FALCON PAWNCH!

[ArcticRalph]

Oh sh*t somebody already asked. Silly me

[ArcticRalph]

What about the Porsches?

[cjhdancer1]

@ArcticRalph Black one and white one were rescued.

[border039]

to bad

[deoxysofshine]

Amazing

[amberview30]

Cool. I live in Orlando and used to work in Winter Park. I never realized. Also, it certainly puts things into perspective that these things happen in Florida.

[oldhippie53]

The sinkhole is now a lovely pond behind Austin's Coffee on Fairbanks Ave - the park shown is on the opposite side of the hole from Austin's.

[border039]

what happend to the cars

[deoxysofshine]

@border039 They sunk

[cjhdancer1]

@border039 A few sunk, but several were recovered.

[Topmodel0]

OMG! i've been there! it's a little pond now, i remember going on a field trip there in 3rd grade!

[ronmancvu]

Ha, John Sobik, subshop owner. Never knew who owned the chain (which is better than Subway, by the way.) Wish there was one over here near UCF...

[nutballgazette]

@ronmancvu Sobiks was real good, But best "Sub" shop was in Cocoa Beach,

Patrick Market and Deli, Owned by the Novak's They brought Boars Head Meats down from New York, The only other place that had Boars Head was Jimmys in Winter Park in the old K Mart Plaza at 436 and I think 426, but he really did not make Subs that much

[PamKayPai]

Thanks for sharing this! Very interesting!

[raconter1]

Excellent job! I have done another video of the sinkhole, and I've referenced your work! :) Jack

[nelosolutions]

Thanks for this post.. I was a young kid living in Fern Park, Florida when this sink hole happened.. 29 years ago..... wow.....

The Park is a great place to visit.

[sweetchick4l]

wow

[olddirtycrayon]

...that was my god-fathers house that got eaten by that sink hole!!who are you mr. man who recorded this!!??!! i am a writer and would appreciate any information that i could gather on mr. Bill Pivnick, and/or ESPECIALLY Joseph Michael Condon...i am of course assuming this is the same sinkhiole i was forced to re-visit consistantly throughout my childhood...it MUSt be...any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[DigitalReptile]

Now there is a HUGE sinkhole in Guatemala.

[Ookaminokemono]

what's the name of the song at the end?

[detroitjeeper]

amaizing video, THANX

[tsukubadiver]

I grew up on Dunraven Drive in Winter Park - and loved Jackie Gleason - thanks for "Tenderly". Another lake In Winter Park can only make life better there. As a kid we could row between the lakes via canals, fish on the way and ride our bikes off "Dinky Dock" at like Mizel on the way home from Saint Margaret Mary's. Life was very good in the 50's.

[N0RTHWEST]

I LOVE THE MUSIC! great video!

[Wysper01]

I take it no-one has ever tried to dive the sinkhole and explore the bottom, would be interesting to see some of the items that got taken by the sinkhole. If they could even be found.

[cjhdancer1]

@Wysper01 A couple of divers went down a couple of years back. They found 3 cars... 2 were from the 1980s, but one had a 2001 tag, so the police pulled that one out, because they thought it might be a stolen vehicle. You can see a video at wORLD wIDE wEB (dot) scubadivingtube (dot) com (slash) play (dot) php (question mark) vid (equal sign) 766.

I wish Youtube would allow the posting of links.

[ArcticRalph]

@cjhdancer1

That link is sadly not working for me

I guess the car with the 2001 plates just drove into that lake 10 years ago

[cjhdancer1]

@ArcticRalph Yeah... again, I wish Youtube would allow you to post links. Try this: go to scubadivingtube(dot)com and at the top right, type in (or copy and paste this) "Car I found in Lake Rose Sink - Winter Park Florida" and click search.  That should get you there.

You can also see a 1981 video of cars being taken out of the sinkhole by searching "Sinkhole Winterpark 1981" on Youtube.

[ArcticRalph]

@cjhdancer1

Thanks alot :) that worked. Yes I know YT is getting a little arrogant on their policies.

That car actually looked in fair condition if it really spent 10 years on the bottom of that lake.

[cjhdancer1]

@ArcticRalph You're welcome. I have no idea the year of the vehicle, nor how long it was in the lake, but the divers said the plate expired in 2001. If the truck was stolen, they could have switched plates... who knows? Winter Park PD and Orange County Sheriff's Office knows, because the lake is in the city of Winter Park, but after the divers (civilian divers) reported what they found, Winter Park called in the OCSO dive team (that the dive team boat on the lake in that video).

[ArcticRalph]

@cjhdancer1

I see, well it did not look like it had spent a lot of time there. They could easily have stolen some plates of a random other car and switched them. I understand from your other comment the other two found cars where 1980's vehicles and just left there? Is'nt that dangerous?

[cjhdancer1]

@ArcticRalph Dangerous? hmmmm... I'm not really the person to judge, but I don't think people go swimming in that lake. I think it's part of a city park now, and the civilian divers who dove there say they got permission (I found all this on a dive site discussion, because your original question made me curious, and I googled), though I am an Orlando resident and remember when this happened, I'm not an expert on it.

[ArcticRalph]

@cjhdancer1

Ah yes very nice vid indeed, wow can't believe those people paid a few thousand to get that old camper out and get it beat up while doing it.

My father is an enthusiastic diver aswell who dives in the North Sea (Europe). Once in a while he discovers old German/British fighter planes or visits a 17th century Dutch trading vessel. They never recover such things either, I guess when its been there a while people just leave them there.

[cjhdancer1]

The 1980s vehicles were not accessible at the time the sinkhole opened up, or I think they would have been removed at the time. Also, the people who got their vehicles removed were ones who had to pay quite a bit to get them removed. Find that other Youtube video I told you about earlier.

[rosa1980x]

hows the whole today ?

/

/

[hadjiic]

Very interesting Kerrie, thanks for the information and making it clear

[bobbo924B]

Kerry - great memories. Thanks. Would you happen to know who did that luscious arrangement of "Tenderly" over the latter couple minutes?

[sweetcougar]

Now we know how lakes are form lol

[creator5593]

@sweetcougar just to say, i live in florida and most lakes ARN'T formed by sinkholes they are usually man made to add atmosphere to houses.

some lakes are sinkholes though like the winter park sinkhole

i think i have passed by it once but there are so many lakes its hard to tell LOL

[B0ngIt]

should have got sinkhole insurance

[cjhdancer1]

@B0ngIt sinkhole insurance didn't exist back then. Mae Rose Owens' insurance paid for the loss of her house, but not for the loss of her land. Laws changed after that. 

[B0ngIt]

@cjhdancer1 sorry , was abit of a bad joke x

[cjhdancer1]

@B0ngIt Ahhh... no biggie. :-)

[moznico]

"What can we do? Sit back and wait and hope it stops."

[gwagner30]

Perfect

[phdhbtdsmmm]

Man - David Lee Roth has really let himself go.

[Marta7350]

This is an interesting video with a very good narrator. Very educational, as I always wondered what caused sinkholes.

[hydropyro888]

Thank you for this very interesting video It was very well presented

[superficialevolution]

this is probably how so many lakes came about in florida.

[genevaxcore]

Not only is this totally rad, but that guys shirt OWNS. Please post more on sinks!

[Brainiaccccc]

Amazing. This is a very interesting video, thank you!

[pudd750]

wish i could play an alto sax like that -

[Greorgy]

nyuk nyuk nyuk

[DammitDrag]

I have a 1958 Corvette in there somewhere.

[IrishJayLG]

did ur wife park it there :D haha

[DammitDrag]

LOL No thank God

[ilikelaundry]

dude, those powers are totally awesome

[starperch]

Thanks for the post. On a whim I was wondering if sinkholes were still "plauging" FL. I forgot about the drought factor--your explaination was great and the footage is incredible. It's also nice to recall back when newspersons were more sensible and accepted that the Earth does its own thing and is not a fragile victim of Mankind--WE are the fodder...

BTW, is the fishing any good? Did the cars get removed, etc?

[cjhdancer1]

@starperch Some, but not all of the cars were "rescued." The black Porsche, a white Porsche, the Camper Truck and one more car made it out. Search Youtube using "Sinkhole Winterpark 1981" for another video of the vehicles being rescued.

[Angelskittle]

i dnt want to go to florda

[Smithfilmproductions]

I live in Orlando now but i remember coming over from St pete to see it.

[Orbit915]

I went to school in winter park florida.

[holm79]

wow, nature isnt wastin any time, im 30 this year, and i reflect often about my past and what will become of the future.

When i see what mother nature can do in 27 years im glad to stand where i am.

I just been trough a "sinkhole" and it just reasently stoppet.

I look forward now to see back and reason what I have "createt" when im 57!

Life feels like a new thing even at age 30..

[99waterlife]

north east of orlando not east

but I like it here

I was born that year

[LoriJo38]

I was 16 years old in 1981 when the ground sank in Winter park. I tell my grown kids about this but have been unable to describe the magnitude... Thank You for the video! I am calling the kids over today to see the evidence of my "remember when story"

Lori Basting

Lake County Fl

[portnoyisthebest]

Kerry, it's people like you and videos like this that remind me how much I love Florida. I'm an Environmental Science / Food Resource Economics major at UF, and I'm giving a presentation on water conservation in Florida later this week. My focal points are problems that come with agricultural irrigation systems, the homeowner's association, golf courses, and the bottled water industry. Funny how we now have entire law practices built on cases pertaining to homes lost in sinkholes.

[rocknarchangel]

In April 1981 me and my High School Sweetheart decided to take our first trip to Disneyland. So we drove down from New Orleans La. This happened while we were there. I remember the horror watching this on the news. I t seemed we were under the impression that the whole city was going under. Well I have made at least 10 more trips to Orlando since that time and am glad that Orlando and Disneyworld are still on the map.

Thanks!!

[Dani741123]

that now next to a soccer feild haha i had games there when i was little

[Sodapopkidd]

This is what I worry about happening in the midwest where they dug all the coal mines and places where they're pumping out all the oil and natural gas. I imagine one day after a major rain/flooding this will start happening. Great video!

[slyrockvalktoady]

This is so awesome! Thank you for taking the time to put this on here!!!

[ESSOGrotto]

Thanks for posting this. Our Geology professor at Shawnee State University described this in detail but it was also wonderful to see all of this footage. It really added depth to the lesson.

[KKD1247]

Thanks! Glad it added "depth" to your lesson - no pun intended! We haven't had a sinkhole like that since then. Last but not least: GO BEARS!

[ilovejoejonas561]

we read about thisin our science text books i was like DAMN

[KKD1247]

Glad I could contribute to your education.

[ilovejoejonas561]

thanks lol

[mattsgp]

@KKD1247 Can you explain the Guatemala sinkhole to me?

[philip665]

wow... im not that far from that place... crazy man...

[shoohoo576]

I have this picture on my homework :D

[JHVipond]

The dwarf actress Patty Maloney was raised in Winter Park. I don't know whether she remembers the sinkhole.

[nastynascarnut]

Thanks for posting. Great Find.

[winterpark4lyfe]

that was my great grandmothers house (mae rose RIP)

WINTER PARK ON DECK

[ilovejoejonas561]

oh thats sad :( ur great grandma died because of this sinkhole?RIP im really sorry

[cjhdancer1]

@ilovejoejonas561 No one died in the sinkhole. She lost her home and land, but moved elsewhere within Winter Park. She died years later.

[cjhdancer1]

@winterpark4lyfe Sorry for your loss. I'm glad they named the lake after her.

[alexander1485]

poor Porsche :(

[cjhdancer1]

@alexander1485 The black Porsche was rescued.

[mywebnet]

Wow! That's a big hole! Very interesting, and educational ;) .

[WACOAGENTS]

Very interesting and very well edited. You have a plethora of good videos; thanks for being a real pillar of the community here. You inspire us all to higher quality YouTube heights.

John

Waco,Texas

[Primetome]

Awesome Kerry!!!!! I was 1 year old when this happened LOL. Oh god there was life before me :) Keep em coming mate!

[kcmom2003]

GREAT GREAT VIDEO. I tried to comment last night but youtube was having maintenance issues. so I waited to comment till tonight. I emailed myu dad the video last night and he sent me a reply that he was going to tell you about it at Sam's.

[BipolarPics]

holy crap! very biblical! love these historical videos of yours, Kerry

[crankerny]

Kerry you are a true professional and have outstanding broadcasting skills. You really are so much better than what we see on tv today..Your friend from Rochester/San diego Jim !!

[sollerboy]

good stuff.

[kylehudson00]

Fascinating stuff, thanks Kerry! =)