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Please: we are trying to find h.o. insurance, + buy our new home. We need the list of areas or blocks in Orlando to avoid that have sinkholes--we dont want to live on no sinkhole. Thanks.
Sinkholes can happen anywhere. Most of the lakes in the area are the result of sinkholes that forms and then were filled in with water. I do not think this is a reason to not move to Orlando or Florida. It is the equivalent of not moving here due to hurricanes or to California due to earthquakes. They happen here. Since I moved here in 2005, sinkholes have only been in the news a couple times and the two times this has occurred it has been in Apopka (Errol Estates) and on Pine Hills Blvd. From that you could assume that they only happen on the west side, but there was a historic sinkhole in Winter Park where there is now a park with a lake.
See map below for sinkhole-prone areas of Florida:
In all seriousness, determining whether or not an area will develop a sinkhole is pretty much more difficult than predicting winning lottery numbers. There are folks (geotechnical engineers) who devote their life's work to studying them. Sure, we know how they're formed...and from that we can try to deduce which areas have conditions that would allow a sinkhole to form. But will one form there? Nobody knows.
An above poster mentions the Deland/Deltona/Debary area. While they may have some sinks in the area, there's nothing making them necessarily more prone to developing a new one over another part of Florida. Sure, they have specific soil types and subsurface conditions that can be found at sinkhole sites, but that doesn't mean one will happen on every property in the area. I know that's not what the poster was implying, but it's a bit rash to disqualify an entire area on the worry of a sinkhole developing. I'd be much more worried about the hurricane bullseye you're considering moving to than the rare chance of a sinkhole opening up under your house.
True, you can hire a geotech company to investigate the potential for a specific property to develop a sink, but you're talking thousands of dollars and you'll get a report that has more disclaimers, "if's", "maybe's", "under certain conditions", and general beating around the bush answers than you will solid yes or no answers. It's the nature of the business. In fact, just the sole act of looking for sinkhole may cause one where it may have otherwise never have happened.
Long story short, you should not give this worry any more thought than looking around the neighborhood for obvious signs of already occuring sinkhole activity...that is, if you see perfectly round ponds/lakes, or better yet, actual sinkholes that have grown in with vegetation...that's an obvious sign. You can pull up an aerial image of the neighborhood on Google Maps and see this easily. Investing any more worry or thought into the subject beyond that is a borderline waste of time.
For instance, look at this aerial image. The little pond just northeast of "Lake Burns" is very likely a small sinkhole that has long since stopped sinking and filled with water...and now appears to be a nice little pond. In fact, Lake Burns and the majority of the surrounding ponds are old sinks in the same condition. And it's not just this area of Florida that has these ponds...they're all over Central Florida and North-Central Florida. Here's another example in a completely different part of Central Florida (Oviedo, my old hometown). Would I consider buying a home near that lake (Lake Rodgers). Sure I would.
Sorry to not offer a solid answer of yes or no to your question...but predicting sinkholes is not possible right now. If you figure out a way, you'll be a very rich person.
Just FYI...I made that map in a low attempt at being funny. While it's not 100% true, it's not too far off base since nearly all of Florida sits on a limestone base which is easily erodible.
A true "sinkhole" in Florida is caused by the collapse of the limestone layer beneath the soil which acts as the roof to the aquifer below. A typical case of a sinkhole happens when a void is created in the aquifer below the limestone (for instance, in a drought when water levels drop significantly), thus removing support from underneath. Any weakness in the limestone layer will be exploited...a crack, a thin spot, etc. This is why I say even exploring for sinkholes can cause one...when the drill rig penetrates the limestone layer, you've now caused a weak spot. this is why drilling a water well can be tricky. There are cases where the drill rig truck has caused it's own sinkhole and swallowed the truck whole!
Folks often mislabel any depression in the ground as a "sinkhole." The case of buried debris decaying and leaving a small void under someone's backyard is very common in neighborhoods. Often, the developers will bury trash and/or trees in what they though was a harmless location...your backyard, an open grass field, etc. Years go by, the stuff deteriorates and leaves a void under the soil (not the limestone), the soil then crumbles in on itself...and that's the end of the story. A sinkhole, on the other hand, takes an unknown long amount of time to stabilize. It's dependent upon how deep the limestone breach is, how big the void is below, the material being swallowed into the hole, soil characteristics in the area, and a slew of other small details. Look at the winter Park Sinkhole, for instance. It took weeks to stabilize, and even then, had spurts of activity for years later. I'd go as far to say that it's really not even 100% stable today. It's just slowed it's consumption to the point where it can sustain itself and look like a gaping wound all the time!
Another confusion is often with simple erosion...for instance at the spot where an un-guttered roof pours every afternoon thunderstorm in a concentrated beam onto your yard. It will eventually bore a hole...and people will freak out and think it's a sinkhole.
Generally speaking, areas where the limestone layer is closer to the surface are somewhat more prone to sinkholes than others. Case(s) in point: Ocala, Gainesville, Lakeland, or anywhere along the Florida ridgeline. Look at a map of Florida and notice the concentration of nearly perfectly round ponds along these areas. Yes, Deltona, Deland, and Debary have a slightly shallower limestone layer than others, but in my opinion, are no more prone than downtown Orlando.
One last note...here's a good video about the Winter Park Sinkhole: YouTube - Winter Park Florida Sinkhole (1981 / 2008) I've seen pictures of the swimming pool falling in step-by-step from a geotech engineer in the area. Pretty amazing stuff.
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Sinkhole emergency
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