(The following story by Bud Norman appeared on The Wichita Eagle website on January 17.)
WICHITA, Kan. — A sinkhole southeast of Hutchinson has grown to about 115 feet in diameter, and officials are awaiting the results of scientific tests that will determine how large it might ultimately become.
“It’s being monitored twice a day and surveyed every other day… to see if we can’t get some stabilization,” said Mike Patterson, Hutchinson Fire Department deputy chief. “What we’re concerned about now is a good thaw and seeing what that’s going to do to it.”
A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train crew discovered the sinkhole about 73 feet south of its tracks on Jan. 3, when the sinkhole was measured at 80 feet in diameter and about 20 feet deep. Rail traffic in the area was then halted, but has since resumed on a nearby track under speed restrictions.
“They’re moving the trains very slowly next to that sinkhole, at like 10 miles an hour,” said Lynn Watney, a senior scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey. “They’re walking the trains, having someone go in front and looking for anything that might indicate movement, so it’s disrupting the railroad traffic for sure.”
The Kansas Geological Survey, along with experts from Hutchinson, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Mosaic Co. –which owns the property — all have conducted a variety of tests to determine what permanent effect the sinkhole will have on railroad operations. The results of a sonar probe were inconclusive, however, and more testing is expected to begin Tuesday.
Because of the isolated location of the sinkhole, it does not pose any other immediate problems, Patterson said. The area has been closed to the public, however, with the Hutchinson Fire Department helping to maintain security.
Because of years of salt mining in the area, Hutchinson has been troubled with sinkholes before.
“There have been bigger ones,” said Mike Cochran, chief of the geology section in the KDHE. “There was one down in Hutchinson on the Cargill property on the edge of town that was about 300 feet in diameter. I believe that one occurred back in the mid-’70s, so yeah, they can be bigger.”