RAPID CITY, S.D. – A Montana Tech professor and his team hired by a law firm representing residents of the Hideaway Hills subdivision gave an update Sunday on his findings.
More than a dozen homes in the subdivision sit empty, more than a year after a sinkhole appeared, exposing an old abandoned gypsum mine underneath.
The Montana Tech team reports their findings have led them to believe the initial sinkhole opened up due to surface water infiltrating the ground and seeping into the roof of the mine that dissolved the gypsum.
They used a test to help them find the direction of water-flow in the ground. They will use that data to help show the long-term stability of the mine. That means residents may have more answers in the next few weeks about the extent and stability of the abandoned gypsum mine residing underneath their homes.
There are at least two lawsuits filed in relation to the collapse, one of which is one step closer to class-action status after a judge ruled in residents’ favor last week.
Hideaway Hills’ Residents are also trying to determine what to do about a sanitary sewer main that could fall into the mine and leave about 150 homes without the service.
