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Two families were forced from their homes because of mine subsidence. It's between two homes in a development outside Hazleton and mining officials said it could get worse, and even bigger.
Officials are so worried about the hole they have closed Route 940 between Hazleton and Freeland until further notice as a precaution. PennDOT is working on a detour around the area.
Drifton Estates is an area that has experienced mine subsidence before and now the ground has given way again.
The soil has dropped between two homes and slowly the buildings are sliding toward the abandoned underground mine. It has swallowed part of one foundation and threatens a second.
"I heard the noise this morning and I didn't pay much attention to it," said homeowner Joe O'Day. It sounded, "Like a plant fell over or something and then I heard scraping like on the side of the house."
"I really heard the rumbling and I knew from past experience what it was so I yelled to him to get up and get out of the house quick," said Margaret Bicile.
Emergency officials ordered the homes evacuated. The homeowners were packing their possessions. State and federal experts hope to come up with a fix.
"It could move again. The walls are dirt lined. There is no bedrock and if we do get rain that could aggravate the situation and it could open up and get larger," said Mike Walsh of the Department of Environmental Protection.
A UGI crew dug up a major natural gas line Wednesday to check its condition. The line feeds the Poconos. Some fear if the subsidence spreads, it could crack the pipe and catch fire.
"That would be a catastrophe so that's why we're getting a plan together so we can avoid any kind of catastrophe. We don't want that," said Hazle Township Fire Chief Scott Kostician.
State officials said over the winter months there was a subsidence about 100 years away that opened up into the mines. It also opened about 29 years ago near the same place. Some are angry and frustrated.
"After the first cave-in they filled everything in and told us everything is perfectly safe," Bicile added. "And the cave-in now happened in the same area as it did in 1979. I can't do this again. I'm too old to do it over again. When this first happened I was in my 40s. I was able to fix the house but I can't do it again."
The O'Day family has mine subsidence insurance covering the damage to their home. The Bicile family does not. They blame government officials who they said assured them 1979 mine subsidence fix was permanent.