Hillsborough County, on Florida's west coast, is part of an area known as "sinkhole alley" that accounts for two-thirds of the sinkhole-related insurance claims in the state, according to a Florida state Senate Insurance and Banking Committee report.

A sinkhole opened up Monday afternoon about three miles from the Bush home. The hole was between two houses, one of them vacant, and caused no structural damage, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said.

The hole measures 12 feet across and four to five feet deep, said Puz, the county spokesman. He said there is no reason to believe the holes are related.

'So many memories'

The crater that suddenly caved under the Bush house devastated a family that had lived there for generations.

After officials called off the search for his brother's body, Jeremy Bush told Bay News 9 the family was despondent.

"It's not just I lost my brother. There are so many memories in this house," he told the CNN affiliate. "My wife and her brother and the whole family.

"Every holiday, we gathered at this house. Her grandmother passed away. All the stuff to remember her by is in this house, and we're losing it all. You can't replace that. You can't replace a life being gone."