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 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. "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. The combination of such large sinkholes endangering so many homes makes the Hideaway Hills situation one to remember.
"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.
