The Black Hawk sink hole is impacting the community in more ways that one

A six-foot fence surrounds parts of East Daisy Drive keeping people out of the eighty five-foot deep hole. Which Meade County Emergency Management Director Doug Huntrods says was made worse by the recent rain and hail.

"We had some additional sluffing of soil down into the mineshaft. It also undermined the driveway a little bit more," said Huntrods.

With the sinkhole ever-changing, the stress of the future is straining the citizens of Black Hawk.

"Maybe losing their home, having to move somewhere else, the financial uncertainty of a mortgage, plus finding a place to live in addition, it has placed a lot of strain on the residents," said Huntrods. "Red Cross provides disaster mental health counseling, so we are reaching out to get a team in place."

On top of that, Meade County is also working on getting grants for the people impacted by the sinkhole.

The Black Hills council for local and county governments is working on an application process for people impacted by the sink-hole for the Hazardous Mitigation Grant Program.

"This is grant money that is on top of what came during the payout for the flooding this past year. It can be used for many different projects within the state including buying out homes in hazardous situations," said Huntrods.

If the county gets it, the grants would pay homeowners 75% of a home's appraised value before the sinkhole appeared.