I’m glad to say that the local grocery stores have plenty of the berries on their shelves even if we have had a cold – by Florida’s standards – month of January.
Temperatures in many inland parts, typically where farming if done, have dropped below freezing on lots of nights causing farmers to turn on the sprinklers, which causes a coat of ice to form on the fruit which protects them from the cold.
The water may have saved the crops but its use has caused a knock-on effect that because of the state’s unusual geological make-up is wreaking havoc here and there.
Sinkholes are appearing everywhere.
All of a sudden a car can be motoring down the street and it will disappear into a hole that suddenly appears. A hole can appear under a house and suddenly the walls start cracking or worse.
According to the University of Florida the state has more sinkholes that any other in the US. Not surprisingly the state’s boosters don’t like to talk too much about sinkholes as their existence can hardly be said to be a selling point.
The reason for the sinkholes in that underground Florida is a limestone mass. Over time rainwater cuts through the limestone and forms underground lakes which fill up.
Now here’s the kicker. When there is a massive increase in sprinkler usage the water from those underground lakes flows away to replenish the aquifer. This leaves nothing to holdup the top soil and whoops, down comes whatever was sitting above.
Just a few days ago sinkholes closed three lanes of the massively busy Tampa to Orlando freeway for four days. The Southwest Florida Water Management District is investigating reports of 45 sinkholes it received in the Dover and Plant City area, where the strawberries are grown.
Local residents want the farmers to chip in for the damages they have caused. The chances of that happening are close to zero. Pass the cream please.
