'Temporary fix' for yard with 3 sinkholes near Brooksville - WFLA-TV Newschannel 8

BROOKSVILLE - A team of volunteers is filling in what's become a sad reminder of what toll Tropical Storm Debby took on some families around Brooksville.  L.R.E. Ground Services, Inc., is donating thousands of dollars worth of manpower and dirt to fill in three sinkholes that swallowed Troy and Lily Fielder's front yard.

"What we're doing is probably outside the scope of what an engineer would recommend," said Jim Flynn of L.R.E. Ground Services, Inc. "The way we look at it: We're trying to put a Band-Aid on a problem that really needs to be addressed long-term."  No one has tested the ground yet to figure out exactly why it opened up here.

"Those tests can literally cost thousands of dollars; especially if you don't have sinkhole coverage," Flynn said.  Lily Fielder initially bought the house at 4370 Broad Street in 1963. About a decade later she married Troy.

"You couldn't help being touched by the story," said "You had a brother and sister that grew up in the house and literally overnight or the span of just a few days ... everything they owned was lost."

Last June, when Tropical Storm Debby's winds and rain were bearing down on Brooksville, Lily was in the hospital fighting leukemia. Troy was at home as the floodwaters crept in. By the time woke up that Sunday morning, his bed was moving ... floating - in about 2 feet of water.

People had to help him in through the flooded yard to safety. Tropical Storm Debby ruined almost everything inside the house. What the water didn't take inside, sinkholes did in the yard including an oak tree that stood on the property more than 200 years.  Richard Gray, Lily's son, said the family is hoping to eventually salvage the house, but it will take work.