Pocono News Section

Subsidence Damages Homes, Threatens Road & Gas Line

Subsidence Damages Homes, Threatens Road & Gas Line - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 10:09PM EST

Reported by: Joe Holden
Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 @10:09pm EST

HAZLE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY- Emergency officials are monitoring what's believed to be a growing sinkhole, a mine subsidence that formed right between and in the backyards of two homes on Smith Lane in Drifton Estates.

Firefighters say the families living at One and Two Smith Drive heard a lot of creaking and settling through the night. They awoke to a massive divide separating their properties. And it didn't stop there.
"About 2:30, 3 o'clock, this hole opened up in the driveway, which seems to be the larger of the holes. That hole slopes towards 940," Chief Scott Kostician, Hazle Township Fire Department, said.

The hole's depth is unknown.

"It is a substantial area that's affected, and from where we can see down into the hole, we can only see so far," Luzerne County Emergency Management Director Steve Bekanich said.

What is obvious is the damage done. Cracks have appeared on both homes. Each is condemned.

Eleanor Brown remembers the last time this happened. That was 1979. "I just hope they do something this time, our houses are worthless."

A pressing concern is an eight inch natural gas artery that runs under the shoulder of Route 940. UGI workers were monitoring the scene and had brought in a pipe that would brace the main, if needed. Officials said the line supplies 80 percent of Hazleton's natural gas customers. "We're here to make sure that integrity is going to stay and make sure all the safety concerns are being taken care of," Bekanich said.

For the time being, traffic is being detoured around a one-block section of Route 940. Detours are posted. Officials say they have to wait until the ground settles before they can begin work to fill in the void.