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WILKES-BARRE — The Department of Environmental Protection has reason to believe that a hole that spontaneously opened in a local woman’s backyard earlier this week was the result of mine subsidence, officials said Wednesday.
Rhonda Martini literally was swept off her feet Sunday when a hole opened suddenly beneath her as she worked in the yard of her Bowman Street home. Martini suffered only bumps and bruises, and DEP officials were sent to the property to try to find the cause of the opening.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said there is a history of mine subsidence, or ground movement resulting from previous mining activity, in Martini’s neighborhood, and that maps reveal numerous mines surrounding her house.
Connolly said the DEP has filed an emergency declaration to fill in the hole, and currently is waiting for the funding to do so. Officials hope to rely only on rock and soil, but might have to resort to concrete to fill the hole, she said.
Although neighbors also should be conscious of potential mine subsidence, Connolly said she does not believe anyone is in “imminent danger.” She advised anyone in the area who sees any new cracks in their foundation to call 911 immediately.
According to Times Leader archives, mine subsidences long have been common in the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys due to widespread anthracite coal mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Serious injuries have resulted in some cases but have been rare in recent years. In 1909, a train went into a subsidence hole near Pittston, resulting in the deaths of two train workers. In a 1925 incident, a cave-in killed a family of six in West Scranton. Yet another cave-in occurred in that same neighborhood in 1927, crushing a 4-year-old boy under concrete.
Bernard Walko, planning unit engineering manager at the DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, said last year that members of his unit were averaging 313 investigations each year. Of those, he estimated that 85 percent involved subsidences.
Other investigations can include mine openings, mine gas problems and mine fires.
