Mysterious neighborhood hole growing

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla -- A Boynton Beach neighborhood turns to CBS 12 for answers, as mysterious holes appear behind their homes. 

One is so big that engineers are coming to inspect it and residents are being told to stay away.
 
Scientists say it would be incredibly rare and almost unheard of for a sink hole to appear in Palm Beach County. 

Sink holes are more common in other parts of the state, but a Boynton Beach family says their backyard is disappearing and they don't know why.
 
Kathleen Stanway has lived in the Sand and Sea Village in Boynton Beach for 7 years, and she never really paid much attention to the tiny hole in her backyard.
 
She said, "A small, small hole, now it's a humongous and a very deep hole."
 
The heavy rains last week meant flooding for this neighborhood, and made the hole even bigger.   
 
"I almost fell through it Saturday when I was out cleaning up the yard from the flooding and the mess that happened in the community," she said.
 
It looks like the ground in bottom of the hole bounces when you poke it, and when a pole does go through it just keeps going for a while.
 
If it keeps growing, Kathleen fears the worst after seeing stories about devastating sinkholes in other parts of the state.
 
"They couldn't even find his body, yeah I'm scared," she said.
 
She's like many of her neighbors, she owns her trailer but pays rent to the mobile home park.
 
Managers at the mobile home park put one barrier up Monday, on Tuesday they put up a big orange fence. 

Because the offices were closed tonight, we weren't able to contact the park managers.
 
True sinkholes can only be determined by a licensed professional geologist, and they are incredibly rare in South Florida. 

State geologists say shallower holes are more likely and caused by broken pipes or old septic tanks.
 
If you find something like this in your backyard, stay away because it could be dangerous.  CBS12