About 150 neighbors from the Hideaway Hills subdivision sued the state for $45 million to cover the value of their homes and legal costs after giant sinkholes opened.

Stuart and Tonya Junker loved their quiet neighborhood near South Dakota's Black Hills — until the earth began collapsing around them, leaving them wondering if their home could tumble into a gaping

Sinkholes are fairly common, due to collapsed caves, old mines or dissolving material, but the circumstances in South Dakota stand out, said Paul Santi, a professor of geological engineering at

Sinkholes are fairly common, due to collapsed caves, old mines or dissolving material, but the circumstances in South Dakota stand out, said Paul Santi, a professor of geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. The combination of such large sinkholes endangering so many homes makes the Hideaway Hills situation one to remember.

I can say just from having taught classes about case histories with geologic problems that this would be a case that will end up in textbooks'