The Florida Geological Survey and the state's emergencydepartment are receiving a $1.08 million federal grant to studysinkhole vulnerability, the Florida Department of EnvironmentalProtection (DEP) has announced.

The grant,funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the FloridaDivision of Emergency Management, finances a three-year projectthat will generate a map modeling potential sinkhole activity inFlorida's counties. Hamilton, Columbia and Suwannee counties willbe studied during the launch year, with the survey expandingstatewide over the following two years.

“Ultimately, this assessment will aid planners, builders andenvironmental regulators for the betterment of human health andsafety as well as the economy,” says Jon Arthur, director of theFlorida Geological Survey.

The DEP posted the announcement a day before a three-storyresort building collapsed in Clermont, near Disney World, after a sinkholeappeared on the property grounds on August 8.

The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) reports that insuranceclaims for sinkhole damage have tripled in recent years, increasingfrom 2,360 claims in 2006 to 6,694 in 2010. In 2011, the state'sinsurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp.,collected about $51 million in sinkhole-related premiums, but paidout more than $136 million in related claims, sucking up capitalneeded to pay for other natural catastrophes such ashurricanes.

Damage from sinkholes resulting in a building collapse isusually covered under Ground Cover Collapse policies. Everyproperty insurer in the state must provide this coverage, stateslaw firm Marshall Thomas Burnett. The requirement doesn't extend toother sinkhole damage, however. Thus, if a home experiencedfoundation cracks due to sinkhole activity but is still safe forliving, it may not be eligible for payout without added Sinkholecoverage.

“The collapse that took place in Clermont won't likely becovered under a Sinkhole, but Catastrophic Ground Loss, policy,”says Michael Peltier, spokesman for Citizens, which did not insurethe damaged building. “When something falls into the earth, and isswallowed by it, it is considered Catastrophic Ground Loss in bothbasic residential and commercial coverage. For Citizens, Sinkholewould be an optional coverage for cracked plaster and settledfoundations determined to be caused by sinkholeactivity.”

According to the DEP, heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Debbyin 2012 triggered a mass formation of sinkholes. The storm brokeout in June following a prolonged drought in Florida, and thesudden influx of rainwater caused dried-out underground voids tocollapse.

In March 2013, a sinkhole opened in the Tampa area, swallowingthe bedroom of a home and a 37-year-old man within it. His body wasnever recovered.

In 1981, a 320-foot-wide and 90-foot-deep sinkhole swallowed atwo-story house, part of a car dealership and an Olympic-sizedswimming pool near Orlando. The site is now an artificial lake.