Mine cave-in severely damages Alton, Illinois multisport civic field

Alton, Illinois — A mine collapse created a sinkhole that swallowed a large light pole at a soccer and football combined field and caused a shutdown of Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois.

WFLD’s drone service via Storyful caught video footage of the hole in the middle of the field. It opened about 100 feet across and 30-to-50 feet deep, New Frontier Materials, which manages the mine, told KMOX-TV.

Officials told The Telegraph of Alton that the fields are closed and unplayable, but added that the most important news is that no one was injured.

Trouble underground caused the sinkhole at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fields were not in use, said Michael Haynes, the director of Alton Parks & Recreation, who spoke with KMOX.

“It was surreal,” Haynes said, commenting on a video caught by the park’s closed-circuit surveillance cameras.

“Kind of like a movie where the ground just falls out from underneath you.

New Frontier Materials said the collapse was caused by a “surface subsidence,” KMOX reported. A subsidence is “a sinking of the ground caused by underground material movement — most often caused by the removal of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources by pumping, fracking, or mining activities,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are other natural causes such as earthquakes, soil compaction and erosion NOAA said.

The company said in a prepared statement that it will “work with the city to remediate the issue as quickly and safely as possible to ensure minimal impact on the community.”

Alton resident Richard Baird said it’s sad because the facility is new and many of the city’s youth participate in sports there.

“Thousands upon thousands of people are impacted,” Baird said.

The city spent $1 million on the park’s artificial turf fields in 2019. Haynes said he did not expect the city to have to fund repair.

The park will remain closed until the stability of the ground can be confirmed. Geologists and engineers will conduct the investigation, which is already underway, Haynes said.

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