COAL TOWNSHIP - An abandoned mine discharge, which typically flows in spring and early summer, opened up near a dirt parking lot Tuesday evening, taking bushes and a chunk of the lot with it.
According to a scanner report, a person walking along Route 61 around 9 p.m. noticed dirt collapsing in the corner of the Sam Bressi Motors parking lot, near the Shamokin-Coal Township line.
Sam Bressi, owner of the car dealership, Shamokin and Coal Township police, and Coal Township fire chiefs arrived on scene and discovered the discharge point had moved approximately 30 feet east and 10 feet north from its previous location. The new location is just yards away from the southbound lane of Route 61.
Typically, several hundred gallons of water flow through the discharge every minute in the spring and early summer, but drops down to a trickle, or even dries up altogether, the remainder of the year.
The water continues to flow in its original path: Over a dirt path, which once served as a railroad bed, then onto a strip of land, before going into Coal Run. Coal Run enters Shamokin Creek near the Rescue Fire Company in Shamokin.
Members of the Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance, who several years ago installed a weir and pressure transducer to measure the flow, arrived on scene to lend advice as to why the blow-out may have occurred and where the water may now be coming from.
The weir and transducer that was positioned just down stream from the original breach were damaged by the increased flow and dirt collapse.
SCRA vice president Larry Deklinski said a damage estimate has yet to be determined, but added it could cost the organization several thousand dollars to purchase and install new equipment.
Representatives from PennDOT, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Northumberland County Department of Public Safety were on scene either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning to inspect the area.
"I have had a collapse here before, but not any water," Bressi said. "I don't know where the water is coming from, but all the mine pools are connected."
Police barricades and caution tape currently surround the eroded lot.