This Midwest Neighborhood 'Will End Up in Textbooks'

Hideaway Hills area near South Dakota's Black Hills is plagued by sinkholes; residents are suing for $45M
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 21, 2024 11:30 AM CDT
This Midwest Neighborhood Is Plagued by Sinkholes
This photo taken April 27, 2022, by Tonya Junker shows a sinkhole in the Hideaway Hills neighborhood near Rapid City, South Dakota.   (Tonya Junker via AP)

Stuart and Tonya Junker loved their quiet neighborhood near South Dakota's Black Hills—until the earth began collapsing around them, leaving them wondering if their home could tumble into a gaping hole. They blame the state for selling land that became the Hideaway Hills subdivision, despite knowing it was perched above an old mine. Since the sinkholes began opening up, they and about 150 of their neighbors have sued the state for $45 million to cover the value of their homes and legal costs. "Let's just say it's really changed our lives a lot," Tonya Junker said, per the AP. "The worry, the not sleeping, the 'what if' something happens. It's all of it, all of the above." Sinkholes are fairly common, due to collapsed caves, old mines, or dissolving material, but the circumstances in South Dakota stand out, said Paul Santi, a professor of geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

"I can say just from having taught classes about case histories with geologic problems that this would be a case that will end up in textbooks," Santi said. Crews built Hideaway Hills, located a few miles northwest of Rapid City, from 2002 to 2004 in an area previously owned by the state where the mineral gypsum was mined for use at a nearby state-owned cement plant. Attorney Kathy Barrow, who represents residents who live in 94 subdivision homes, said the state sold the surface but held on to the subsurface, and it didn't disclose it had removed the soil's natural ability to hold up the surface. Some of the land slightly sunk over time after the subdivision was built, and a hole opened up beneath a back porch, but the situation escalated after a large sinkhole opened up in 2020 near where a man was mowing his lawn.

That prompted residents to connect with Barrow, and testing revealed a large, improperly sealed mine in one part of the subdivision, and a 40-foot-deep pit mine in another corner, Barrow said. Since that first giant collapse, more holes and sinkings have appeared, and there are now "too many to count," Barrow said. The unstable ground has affected 158 homes, plus destabilized roads and utilities. In court docs, the state entities being sued said they'd "like to express their sincerest sympathies for many of the property owners" and called the sinkhole formation "tragic." Still, the state argued it wasn't the fault of officials. "Those truly liable in this case are the developer, the initial realtor, and the numerous homebuilders who knowingly chose to build over an abandoned mine while purposefully hiding its existence from the homebuyers purchasing in Hideaway Hills," the state said. More here.

(More sinkhole stories.)

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