Sinkhole (Photo : Credits: Reuters)
Ten people from Fontmell Close were evacuated on Thursday to the Batchwood Leisure Centre after a 20-meter wide and 10-meter deep sinkhole opened in St. Albans, according to the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. It spread across the driveway and front yard of a property on the residential street.
The sinkhole caused over 50 properties in the area to lose gas and electricity connections, said a spokesman of the fire service, reports the Irish Examiner. The service says that the sinkhole began as a small hole on Wednesday and they were scheduled to fill it in.
However, at 1:30 a.m. of Thursday, someone called the fire service to report that overnight the hole became bigger.
Since 2014, a number of sinkholes caused damage across the UK, namely:
- A 40-foot deep hole that appeared in August at a busy street in Manchester city centre
- A sinkhole in February cost the Traigh Golf Course, located near Mallaig on Scotland's west coast, 16,000 pounds
- A house in Ripon, North Yorkshire almost collapsed in February also due to a hole under the unit.
British Geological Survey expert Peter Hobbs explains the phenomena to dissolution of rock, collapse into former mine sites and changes in water table that affect the underground cavities' stability. He also blamed the relatively dry and weather in the area, causing water tables to go down. Hobbs points out that sinkholes often develop in areas with chalk formation.
Earlier this week, a 150-metre-long sinkhole ate vehicles and camping equipment at the MV Beagle Campground in Queensland, Australia. After the incident, authorities hired a geomorphologist the investigate how the sink hole evolved, reports IBTimes.
