Residents call on Polk County officials as large crater still threatens homes

KATHLEEN, Fla. — Nearly a year after Hurricane Milton, a large crater is still threatening homes on Willow Wisp Drive North. 

The gaping hole — about 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep — opened up between two houses, causing one to partially collapse inside. Since then, stepping outside has served as a constant reminder for resident Antonia Lawson that his years of hard work could be gone overnight.

“So why are we working, trying to have something nice, when we can’t have nothing nice? Something is stopping it right there,” he said.

Lawson, the owner of Payless Lawncare, lives right next door to where the crater opened last October. Thankfully, his neighbors made it out safely, but now he said his own home is at risk as a depression is starting to form in his front yard.

“And it’s downhill, making a whole other hole, and eventually it will look like the hole on the other side if someone doesn’t come and do something about it,” he said.

Lawson and his neighbors say they’ve reached out to Polk County officials several times since Milton, but not much has changed. According to a spokesperson for Polk County’s Roads and Drainage Division, the site was investigated after the storm, but no further action has been taken.

Residents believe the collapse could be related to the neighborhood’s storm drains and runoff from new development.

“We have another neighborhood that’s being built behind this neighborhood, and it used to be a wooded area,” Lawson said. “It’s no longer a wooded area to stop the water from flowing, and the water just flowed and overwashed everything. There was nothing there to stop it.”

Now, Lawson is calling on the county to step in. He says the crater is not only an eyesore, but a threat to everyone around.

“We need to have it fixed. We need help,” he said.