Recent rains contribute to significant sinkhole on road N.W. of Willmar

By Kyle Rozendaal
krozendaal@wctrib.com
WILLMAR - A large sinkhole opened underneath Kris Ryks’ truck Saturday while he was driving his daughter down the street to a friend’s house on Horizon Hills Circle northwest of Willmar.
“It could have been a lot worse than it was,” said Ryks. “My truck sits up really high and I was only driving 10 or 15 miles per hour so thankfully no one was hurt.”
Richard Swenson, a supervisor of Dovre Township, learned of the sinkhole Tuesday during an interview with the Tribune.
“It’s only the second or third sinkhole we have had to fix this year,” said Swenson, who has been in charge of lining up contractors to fix any sinkholes that open up in the township.
“Generally, they open where there is a culvert crossing under the road and the soil erodes more quickly.”
According to Swenson, recent rains make the sinkhole problem exponentially worse.
Running water can be heard coming from the sinkhole, and Ryks said he thinks that there is a culvert underneath the road where the sinkhole opened.
Once a contractor is notified and begins work on the sinkhole, usually the problem is solved in a day, according to Swenson, who promised to call a contractor immediately after the interview.