The Junker family, residing in the Hideaway Hills subdivision near South Dakota's Black Hills, have found their once peaceful neighborhood transformed into a nightmare as sinkholes threaten to consume their homes. Blaming the state for selling land above an old mine, the Junkers and around 150 of their neighbors have collectively filed a lawsuit demanding $45 million to cover the value of their homes and legal expenses.

The situation in Hideaway Hills, located a few miles northwest of Rapid City, is deemed unique and alarming by geological experts. The emergence of large sinkholes endangering numerous homes has caught the attention of Paul Santi, a professor of geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, who believes the circumstances are noteworthy enough to become a case study in textbooks. The residents' attorney, Kathy Barrow, highlighted the state's failure to disclose vital information about the subsurface beneath the subdivision, leading to the destabilization and collapse of the land in the area.

Since the initial sinkhole incident in 2020, more sinkholes have surfaced, causing instability in the ground beneath 158 homes and affecting roads and utilities. Barrow revealed the presence of an improperly sealed mine beneath the northeastern part of the subdivision and a 40-foot-deep pit mine in another corner of the neighborhood, adding to the residents' distress. The dire situation has left residents feeling trapped and anxious, with concerns ranging from the safety of school buses to the possibility of houses collapsing during the night on their unsuspecting occupants.