Godstone:
A large zinc hole has appeared in a South Engels village, which swallowed at least one garden and forced authorities to evacuate residents from around 30 houses.
The development of the zinc hole in the Surrey village of Godstone, which appeared on Monday and grew to at least 20 meters on Tuesday, has been declared a major incident by local agencies.
The BBC said that the evacuated properties were built about three years ago, on the site of a former sand quarry. One of the residents, Noosh Miri, said her family was one of the evacuated.
“We have a violent knock on the door,” said Miri. “While I opened the door, it sounded like I was in a waterfall because the zinc hole was right in front of my door.”
Another resident, Rez Mira, told the BBC that his garden fell into the zinc hole: “It has collapsed, the wall will certainly come down … We are terrified.”
Surrey County Council (SCC) said that investigations were underway and people asked to avoid the area while the work was being done. Residents from the Cordon were supported with advice on housing, the council said.
“The local resilience forum will continue to meet during this incident to ensure that everything is done to resolve the situation as quickly and safely as possible,” said Carl Bussey of SCC.
SES Water said in the early hours of Tuesday that it was aware of a burst water head pipe in Godstone High Street. It said on Wednesday that it could have restored the supplies for the affected property. Electricity has also been restored.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by Our staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
