Residents live in fear their houses will be swallowed as giant sinkholes open up in their neighborhood
Joe Yates
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/KELOLAND News / KOTA
The thought of lying in bed or driving down the road and suddenly being swallowed up by the earth is absolutely terrifying.
But it is a real possibility in one US neighborhood after 'countless' sink holes have appeared since the turn of the decade, leading for residents of Hideaway Hills to take action.
An entire subdivision in the commune of Black Hawk, 158 households to be exact, have filed a lawsuit against the State of South Dakota claiming that it failed to stabalize land sitting on top of a gypsum mine before selling it.
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Mining was active in the region from the 1900s until 1930, after which the site was abandoned until a state-owned cement plant mined the land for several years from 1986.
When the land was eventually sold to a housing developer a sinkhole opened up, and fingers soon pointed at the State.
South Dakota claims it isn't liable for the damages because duties at the cement plant were carried out above ground and the mine was always going to collapse.
But what it all means to residents living in the affected area is that their houses are worth nothing as they're deemed as 'dangerous' ever since a sinkhole opened up in Hideaway Hills in May 2020.
Four years on from that moment which saw multiple people evacuated from their homes, the residents are taking the state to court with the help of Fox Rothschild, the law firm representing each household.
Attorney Kathy Barrow, who will represent the neighborhood, told KELOLAND News: "They're worried about school buses falling into a hole, they worry about their houses collapsing on their children in their beds at night.
"I mean, you spend your whole life putting money and building equity in your home.
"It's your most prized asset, and these people's asset had become not only worthless but almost a negative because they're dangerous to live in."
The Hideaway Hills versus South Dakota court case could see the state fork out roughly a staggering $44 million to those affected, which would just cover the value of each home.
However, South Dakota has claimed that it could not have known that developers would eventually go on to build on the site after the land was originally sold to a horse farmer.
Tonya and Stuart Junker are just one of the many households taking the state to court.
Stuart was supposed to take retirement this year but instead will continue to work through the uncertainty of their future, with Tonya telling the station: "That’s a hard pill to swallow."
While Stuart, who has lived in their property, which was built back in 1929, with his wife for 15 years, added: "'It’s just kind of disappointing that the state won’t take care of us.
"I mean, this is their problem."
But South Dakota doesn't see it like that, saying: "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."