Serious Question for Florida Residents (Especially Tampa Residents)

Hi Moms,

I am very frightened about something, and I need to ask this question again, but this post is more specific and detailed than my previous one. I thank you in advance to those who read this and take this seriously. So, everyone has fears, I'm sure, such as: tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunami's/earthquakes, etc. While those fears I just listed are also fears of mine, my biggest fear is sinkholes.

Our family has a wonderful opportunity to move to the Tampa area, but all that I can think of regarding Tampa is that poor man in Seffler who got swallowed by a sinkhole in February. I did a ton of research about sinkholes in general, and learned a lot. I learned that sinkholes exist in many places around the world, as well as several states in the U.S. I also learned that the state most susceptible to sinkholes is Florida - particularily Tampa.

I learned that all of Florida sits atop karst terrain/soluable rock/limestone, and when it rains, the water goes into the soil, and below the earth's surface. When that happens, the rain comes in contact with debris and instantly becomes contamminated/acidic. The acidic water then eats away at the limestone. When there is no more limestone left to support the ground above, caves, caverns, or large spaces (all known as sinkholes) develop, causing the ground above to collapse.

I learned that sinkholes can be small (only a couple feet in length and depth), or extremely large (swallowing roads, houses, buildings, acres...).

I have two reasons for this post: 1) I am making another attempt to see if anything anyone has to say can possibly ease my fear of sinkholes. 2) I need statistics. I already researched geological surveys in Florida, and I already know that the surveys show a lot of sinkhole activity in Florida/Tampa. Common sense tells me that there is only so much limestone that lies under Florida, so once all of the acidic rain water eats away at the limestone, there will be no more limestone left, resulting in nothing left to support Florida's ground. I would like to know how much limestone there really is that lies beneath Florida/Tampa. Are there miles and miles and miles of limestone that would take 500 years for the acidic water to completely eat all of it? Or are there only a few miles of limestone that would only take 50, 25, or 10 years for the acidic water to eat it all away?

What I really need, is to speak to a Florida geologist. Does anyone know how I would go about doing that, or if that is even possible? I need to know that the ground beneath my house, my childrens' schools, the road I'm driving on, etc. will be able to support all of that. I learned that some sinkholes develop slowly over a long period of time and there will be sigs, like a crack in the foundation or settlement in the backyard. However, I also learned that some sinkholes happen abruptly with no signs and no warning, such as what happened to that poor man in Seffler. Imagine going to bed one night, never waking up in the morning because the ground beneath you caved in b/c there was no more limestone left to support the ground above, getting swallowed by a huge sinkhole. I believe this poor man's death was the only recorded death related to a sinkhole, but I am wondering if this is going to be trend, and if we will soon start to see other tragic stories like this in the news.

I know that natural disasters happen almost anywhere, but as I said, sinkholes are my biggest fear over anything else. I need to know that the ground below me is stable, and will not collapse, especially with no notice. So, my biggest question is for a geologist, wondering how many years Florida has left before all of the limestone disappears, resulting in catastrophic sinkholes.
One more thing - I would also like to know how often you get sinkholes or notice cracks in your foundation, resulting in submitting claim forms to your insurance companies. I would also like to know if your insurance companies dismiss your claims, or if they take them seriously and actually repair the cracks or sinkholes. I read that about 25,000 sinkhole claim forms in Florida are submitted every single year.

Again, any supportive comments and/or knowledge of sinkholes and sinkhole statistics are greatly appreciated. Thank you.