A sinkhole that spans 22 acres in size has resulted in the evacuation of 350 people in the small Louisiana town of Bayou Corne, following the collapse of an underground salt dome.

Web Prone News reported that the original hole opened in August 2012. Due to the ordeal, several families were forced to give up their homes, as natural gas and oil continued rising to the surface, making the site unsafe.

Texas Brine Co., the company that runs the salt dome, is offering to purchase many of the affected residences in order to minimize the impact of the transition for those that are evacuating. However, only 44 of the 92 affected families have accepted the offer.

"We just feel that this place is not ever going to be what it once was. It was just a beautiful, pristine place on the bayou. And now that's gone, and we just don't feel safe about what's underneath us," resident Bucky Mistretta told ABC News.

The company was heavily fined in 2012 for not containing the sinkhole and for taking too long of a time to put in air monitoring devices in the housing around the site.

Several of the families are now involved in a class-action lawsuit to take the stand against the Texas Brine Co., which could cost them several millions of dollars.

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