SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Okaloosa County, FL: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock
71%
At or near the surface
0%
Buried under cover
71%

The next step for one property

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

Standard Florida homeowners policies cover only catastrophic ground cover collapse; full sinkhole coverage is a separately priced option insurers must offer.

That works out to roughly 662 of Okaloosa County's 930 square miles on soluble rock. With about 220,483 residents (237 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 382 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Read next: what Florida insurers have to cover, and why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone.

Counties around Okaloosa County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Holmes County, FL, about 49 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

What Okaloosa County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Alum Bluff Group (limestone), Eocene in age, covering about 63% of the county. Next is the Residuum on Oligocene sediments at 7%.

The county also lies over the Gulf Coast salt domes, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Florida

Okaloosa County ranks 66 of 67 in Florida for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.