New details on mine subsidence in Luzerne County

LUZERNE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)_ — 28/22 News has been following mine subsidence in Toby Creek, in Luzerne Borough, behind Luzerne Lumber.

The mine void opened up on Sunday, draining water from the creek, and is causing concern for nearby homeowners and businesses.

Since then several other potential mine-related issues have popped up across Luzerne County.

28/22 News has been following mine subsidence in Toby Creek, in Luzerne Borough, behind Luzerne Lumber.

The mine void opened up Sunday, draining water from the creek, and causing concern for nearby homeowners and businesses.

Since then, several other potential mine-related issues have popped up across Luzerne County.

On Tuesday we gave you an update on the progress at Toby Creek. We also told you about another sinkhole as well as reports of orange-tinted water, and strong odors. We now know from the Department of Environmental Protection, (DEP) that they have done visual inspections and used mapping to determine at this time, that those incidents are not connected to the subsidence on Toby Creek.

This week, the dep has received several complaints of tinted or bubbling water, sinkholes, and strong sulfur odors.

“The DEP is aware of them, we’ve gone out we’ve investigated them, given a visual inspection of what’s happening, we’ve documented them,” said Colleen Connolly, spokesperson for DEP.

DEP spokesperson, Coleen Connolly says all complaints have been investigated, and none of them are linked to the Toby Creek mine subsidence.

She says some of those have happened in the past, and are documented by the DEP.

“Keep in mind those incidents are happening above abandoned mines, which are prevalent throughout the Wyoming Valley given our history of coal mining, but there seems to be, there appears to be at this time no connection to Toby Creek,” Connolly added.

The DEP says the occurrences of water bubbling or pooling can be attributed to the recent heavy rainfall across our area.

“Heavy precipitation can lead to an increase in water flow, water bubbling up from the ground, pooling, and then runoff going down the street. We’ve documented those incidents as well. So that could be one of the causes,” Connolly added.

And the odd-colored water:

“The orange color that you’re seeing is the solution, that causes the water to be discolored. There could be also an odor to that as well.,” Connolly continued.

The DEP is responsible for responding to subsidies, but the county is also keeping a close eye and reminds residents to stay calm.

“People shouldn’t panic. If they believe that there’s a sinkhole or some sort of cave-in happening on their property call 911 they call dep and they’ll be addressed,” said Romilda Crocamo, Luzerne County Manager.

The DEP says work will continue here for as long as needed. As you can see behind me, water is flowing downstream. The DEP says the hole is plugged, it has sunken in slightly, but water is flowing and they continue to monitor it. They encourage residents to report any concerns in the meantime.

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