Apparent sinkhole drains lake in Ocala neighborhood

Lake once took up 5 acres

A sinkhole drains a lake in Ocala.

OCALA, Fla. – An apparent sinkhole has swallowed a lake in an Ocala neighborhood.

The Woodland Villages Association property manager noticed that something appeared wrong with the lake on Tuesday afternoon.

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By 4:30 p.m., calls started coming in from residents saying the lake was "essentially gone."

Engineers, area contractors and the city's public works department was called in for help.

By nightfall, the lake -- which once took up about 5 acres and was up to 8-feet deep in places -- was drained.

Woodland Villages has about 700 residents living in estate homes, condominiums, townhomes and patio homes.

A similar incident was reported to have happened in 1996.


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