Dozens of guests at a Florida resort near Walt Disney World weresafely evacuated in the middle of the night on Monday when athree-story building collapsed after a large sinkhole opened on theproperty's grounds.

A spokesman for the Lake County Fire Department said there wereno injuries after staff at the Summer Bay Resort near Orlandoresponded quickly to sounds of danger at the building.

Security guard Richard Shanley was driving a golf cart down theresort's main boulevard when a family hailed him and told him therewas something wrong, that they heard a popping sound.

“I was hearing popping noises and I was hearing people screamingand glass breaking. The building actually twisted and separated,”Shanley said. “It was like something from a movie.”

Paul Caldwell, general manager of the 64-acre, lake-side resort,said the building collapsed almost entirely within 45 minutes,leaving only the top floor visible from the ground.

Shanley, whom Caldwell hailed as “a hero,” said he saw balconiesbreaking. He went into the building, through all the floors,banging on doors, using his master key to open doors and wakepeople to get them out.

While he was on the second floor, he felt the building sinkabout 20 inches and saw the ceilings collapsing.

He continued on to the third floor to help get all the guestssafely out. By the time he was on the third floor, the entirethird-floor ceiling had collapsed, he said.

Shanley kept going until the fire department came and made himleave.

Asked if he felt his life was ever at risk, Shanley said, “Yesma'am, but I didn't think of that at the time. I was more concernedabout my guests and trying to get them out of here.”

A total of 36 people were evacuated, including 20 from thecollapsed building and another 16 from a building evacuated as aprecaution, according to the resort's executive vice president,Juan Barrillas.

Caldwell praised Shanley for not waiting for authorizationbefore starting the evacuation.

“Had he not acted on his own we are confident there could havebeen many people trapped in that building,” said Caldwell.

Sinkholes in Florida are relatively common, caused by thestate's porous geological bedrock of limestone. As acidic rainwaterfilters into the ground, it dissolves the rock, causing erosionthat can lead to underground caverns, resulting in the collapsingsinkholes.

“One woman was sitting in the tub and the tub levitated, andthat's when she just grabbed a pair of shorts and came out,” resortguest Maggie Ghamry told WFTV. She said another couple with aninfant baby had to smash through a room window after the door framecollapsed.

The collapsed building had two wings of 12 units each, connectedby an elevator tower in the breezeway.

Julian and Maggie Moreno of San Antonio, Texas, were staying ina two-bedroom suite opposite the collapsed building with theirdaughter and two grandchildren when they heard police in the hallyelling for everyone to “grab stuff and get out.”

Julian Moreno tossed suitcases off a third-floor balcony. Asthey left the suite their door was already jamming, leading them tobelieve their building was sinking, too.

The resort relocated guests to other units on the property, theMorenos said, but the family put off a trip to Disney World. “We'rejust trying to figure out how to feed the kids and get thissettled,” he said.

Dembley said several dozen evacuated guests were being housed inother buildings on the property, about six miles from Walt DisneyWorld.

In March a sinkhole opened under a Tampa area home, swallowingthe bedroom of 37-year-old landscaper Jeff Bush, whose body wasnever recovered.

In 1981 in Winter Park near Orlando, a sinkhole measuring 320feet wide (98 meters) and 90 feet deep swallowed a two-story house,part of a Porsche dealership, and an Olympic-size swimming pool.The site is now an artificial lake in the city. (Editing by DavidAdams, Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Adler)