Crews work to fill mine void in Luzerne County
LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Work continues Wednesday night on filling a mine void that opened in a Luzerne County creek last weekend.
Now, questions are being raised if that mine subsidence is connected to other events.
28/22 News was on Northampton Street in Kingston where water has been bubbling to the surface since Tuesday and it is still unknown if this event and others are related to the mine subsidence at Toby Creek.
The I-Team spoke with a mining expert today who says all bets are off when it comes to underground mines.
It’s been virtually nonstop work at Toby Creek in Luzerne Borough since Sunday when a massive mine void opened up in the creek, swallowing it up and stopping the flow of water.
Do you have a mine under your house?
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) workers are now pumping concrete and putting large boulders into the void to fill it up since Sunday. Incidents have unfolded in other communities in the Wyoming Valley. The map below shows the locations of yet unexplained issues.
A large sinkhole opened near a home on Hughes Street in Swoyersville. The hole has since been filled in. Then, water started bubbling up on Simpson Street in Swoyersville it has a rust color and smells like sulfur.
In Forty Fort “water ponding showed up on Tripp Street then in Kingston water began percolating out of the ground on Northampton Street. Bob Hughes is an underground mine expert.
“I don’t want to speculate at this time because there is still a lot of work that has to be done,” said Bob Hughes, an underground mine expert.
Hughes is the Executive Director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation. He is assisting the DEP in the Toby Creek investigation. He says mines are just about everywhere in Wyoming Valley. The red areas on this map show where they are located.
“A lot of gangways a lot of mine shafts a lot of boreholes to figure out where the cal is and where air vents needed to be and the mine workings to haul the coal out is located not just under the river but paralleling route 81 and route 11,” hughes added.
Hughes says according to his measurements. At least 120 million gallons of water went through the Toby Creek mine void. But it’s anybody’s guess where it went and the impact if any it is having on local communities.
“Looking at water elevations and looking at the maps the most current maps available to see if in fact if any of those areas were breached and if any mine barriers pillars that used to separate water underground are still there,” Hughes continued.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is investigating all of this and 28/22 News will stay on top of the story as we expect more to come in the days ahead.
Tonight the I-Team talks with a mining expert for his take on the situation, Andy Mehalshick reports live on 28-22 News.
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