More than 200 people suing South Dakota for Hideaway Hills sinkhole

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Imagine waking up one day to a large sinkhole right outside your house.

For some residents of Hideaway Hills, that’s exactly what happened in April 2020 when a sinkhole formed revealing an abandoned gypsum mine.

Four years later, more than 200 people are involved in a lawsuit against the State of South Dakota and are seeking $60 million in damages.

Since 2020, the sinkhole in the Hideaway Hills neighborhood in Black Hawk has led to anger and fear.

“There’s no guarantee that a sinkhole won’t open under a school bus or somebody’s bedroom or anything else that’s out there. They’re also afraid they’re going to lose their utilities and they’re going to have to move,” said Kathleen Barrow an attorney with Fox Rothschild LLP.

Now, there is a class action lawsuit against the state of South Dakota as more than 200 people are claiming the area to be too dangerous to live in.

“To the degree that there was an incorrect or inadequate reclamation which is certainly one of the things we’re alleging, it can only be attributable to the state,” said Barrow.

There are currently 12 homes in an evacuation zone and a total of 158 homes are threatened due to their foundations having nothing stable to sit on.

Barrow believes more homes will be added to the evacuation zone.

“Every time it rains, you get small collapses and subsidence’s and that affects the structures of the homes,” said Barrow.

She feels empathy for those who have lost their homes because of the sinkhole.

“I wouldn’t know what to do because I wouldn’t have the means to buy another house and just vacate the one I’m in. Not very many of us would, but nobody should be living out there, unfortunately, because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Barrow.

Barrow says a hearing is expected at some point this summer and a trial is set for damages next spring.

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