Missing Pennsylvania gran could have fallen into 30-foot sinkhole as granddaughter found in car nearby – The Mirror US
A missing Pennsylvania grandmother may have fallen into a 30ft sinkhole after police found her granddaughter alone in a car nearby.
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was last seen at around 5pm on Monday with her 5-year-old granddaughter was found in a car about 15 to 20 feet away. It sparked a desperate search of the area as well as the sinkhole which reportedly opened around the time she vanished.
Local reports say Pollard was searching for her cat at the time she went missing. Trooper Steve Limani said: "The sinkhole, it appears that it was most likely created during the time while, unfortunately, Miss Pollard was walking around. There is no evidence of any time where that hole would have been here prior to her deciding to walk around looking for her cat."
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A fire official said there are old coal mines in the area, though it wasn't immediately known if the sinkhole was part of a mine, reports abc7. It comes after families in South Dakota are fearing for their safety as sinkholes opened in the Hideaway Hills neighborhood.
Stuart and Tonya Junker are worried they will have to leave their house above an abandoned mine in Black Hills as sinkholes have engulfed the neighborhood since 2020. The state has come under fire for selling land that became the Hideaway Hills subdivision, fully aware of its precarious location above an old mine.
The emergence of sinkholes prompted the Junkers and approximately 150 neighbors to file a lawsuit against the state, demanding $45 million in compensation for their property's value and legal expenses.
"Let's just say it's really changed our lives a lot," said Tonya Junker. "The worry, the not sleeping, the 'what if' something happens. It's all of it, all of the above."
Sinkholes can result from natural cave collapses, former mines, or eroding geological materials. However, Paul Santi, a professor of geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, highlights that the extent of the problem in South Dakota is notably exceptional due to the large number of homes at risk from substantial sinkholes.
Santi predicts the Hideaway Hills situation is significant enough to be used as an example in future textbooks.
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