Cape Coral couple fears sinking ground could swallow home

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

Jack Johnson thought his northwest Cape Coral home would be where he spent the rest of his life. Now, he fears the ground beneath it is collapsing.

“I’m scared,” Johnson said. “My house is going to fall in a hole.”

Johnson said cracks and sinking first appeared near his driveway last summer, around the time construction began on a nearby 7-Eleven. Since then, he said the damage has spread through his driveway, yard and the street in front of his home.

A surveyor told the family the roadway outside their home has dropped nearly a foot and a half.

“The ground has shifted all around my house,” Johnson said.

Johnson, a retired disabled veteran, said he cannot afford to move and has tried making repairs himself to keep access to his garage.

His wife, Denise Johnson, said she first contacted the City of Cape Coral in July and has documented the damage ever since.

“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” she said.

The city has posted warning signs, restricted traffic and begun investigating the issue, but the Johnsons say they still do not have clear answers as to what is causing the subsidence.

Dr. Rachel Rotz, a hydrogeology professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, said several factors could contribute to sinking ground in Southwest Florida, including drought conditions, underground fill material and nearby construction.

“We are rapidly developing,” Rotz said. “We are altering our hydrology all of the time.”

Rotz said subsurface imaging would likely be needed to determine the exact cause.

For now, the Johnsons say they are living in fear as the cracks continue to spread closer to their home’s foundation.

“It just got worse and worse and worse,” Johnson said.

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