THE VILLAGES - A sinkhole swallowed Louis Zimmer’s $75 toy lawn poodle and part of his driveway in The Villages of Lady Lake Monday evening. 

“I thought, ‘Cripes!’ when it happened,” he said. Lady Lake police said the sinkhole was about 10-feet deep. It measured 8-feet by 9-feet. 

A second sinkhole opened earlier around noon Monday at 210 Hawthorne Ave. in Lady Lake. 
That hole is about 10-feet in diameter and about 5-feet deep, police said. 

Town officials and engineers marked the holes in orange to see if they will expand or deepen during the following two days. 

The hole in The Villages exposed an underground water connection. Maintenance workers from The Villages made sure the line was secure, officials from The Villages said. Zimmer said he used to worry about sinkholes on his street after he moved to The Villages in 1989. He said three have opened on Tarpon Lane in the last three years. 

“The town has got to do the job,” he said. “Whatever is to be is to be.” 

Until the hole is repaired, Zimmer said he will use his neighbor’s driveway behind his house. The hole goes two feet under his driveway and partly onto the street. Orange tapes marks the hole. 

Town Manager Jim Coleman said the town assisted The Villages with examining the hole. 

Besides the nearly two dozen in other parts of The Villages in the last two years, Coleman said at first he couldn’t recall any sinkholes opening in the town since 1999. “This is the first two we’ve had recently,” he said. Heavy rain ended three years of drought last year, making the area more susceptible to sinkholes, experts say. 

Geologists explain that heavy rain sometimes causes weak pockets of land to cave into lower underground caverns, creating the sinkhole. 

Sinkholes are more prevalent during heavy rainy seasons following extended dry conditions, they say. Coleman said the town will fill the sinkhole at Hawthorne Avenue. But he said he’s not sure who will pay to fill the one on Tarpon Lane in The Villages. 

Pete Wahl, administrator of The Villages Center Community Development District, also said he’s not sure who will pay to have the hole filled. 

He said the bill will go to the owner of the property where the sinkhole is — either The Villages, the town or Zimmer. “Engineers are looking at it,” Wahl said. “If it’s on (Zimmer’s) property, it’s his responsibility. If it’s on the town’s property, it’s their responsibility.” 

The Villages has repaired several dozen sinkholes since 2000. The repair cost of the holes hasn’t been determined.