This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/01/sinkhole-opens-in-st-albans-street
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Sinkhole opens in St Albans street | Sinkhole opens in St Albans street |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A 20-metre sinkhole has appeared on a residential street in St Albans, causing several families to be evacuated and leaving scores of homes without water, electricity and gas. | A 20-metre sinkhole has appeared on a residential street in St Albans, causing several families to be evacuated and leaving scores of homes without water, electricity and gas. |
| Related: What are sinkholes and what causes them? | Related: What are sinkholes and what causes them? |
| People living in Fontmell Close in the Hertfordshire town heard a crash in the middle of the night and looked out to see the road had collapsed, the Herts Advertiser newspaper reported. | People living in Fontmell Close in the Hertfordshire town heard a crash in the middle of the night and looked out to see the road had collapsed, the Herts Advertiser newspaper reported. |
| The damage meant some residents could not leave their homes through their front entrances and had to walk through neighbour’s gardens instead. | The damage meant some residents could not leave their homes through their front entrances and had to walk through neighbour’s gardens instead. |
| The 20-metre-diameter hole spreads across a front garden and driveway and is 10 metres deep. | The 20-metre-diameter hole spreads across a front garden and driveway and is 10 metres deep. |
| Hertfordshire fire and rescue service said at least 10 people were taken to an evacuation centre set up at nearby Batchwood Hall. Gas and electricity supplies had been isolated while crews assessed the damage. | Hertfordshire fire and rescue service said at least 10 people were taken to an evacuation centre set up at nearby Batchwood Hall. Gas and electricity supplies had been isolated while crews assessed the damage. |
| A small hole in the road appeared a few days ago, according to the service’s watch commander, John Hudnott, but it had been thought this was because of a leak in a water main. | |
| Related: North Yorkshire home wrecked by ninth sinkhole in a month | Related: North Yorkshire home wrecked by ninth sinkhole in a month |
| “They had a sinkhole in Hemel [Hempstead] this year or last but I’ve never seen one like this,” he said. | “They had a sinkhole in Hemel [Hempstead] this year or last but I’ve never seen one like this,” he said. |
| “I have absolutely no idea how long it’s going to take to get the power back on. We thought it was the water leak but now we’re not so sure.” | “I have absolutely no idea how long it’s going to take to get the power back on. We thought it was the water leak but now we’re not so sure.” |
| Sinkholes are created when the surface layer of the ground collapses. In August, a sinkhole opened up on one of central Manchester’s busiest roads after torrential rain. The 12-metre crater appeared on Mancunian Way between the junctions with the A6 London Road and Fairfield Street, halting traffic in both directions. | Sinkholes are created when the surface layer of the ground collapses. In August, a sinkhole opened up on one of central Manchester’s busiest roads after torrential rain. The 12-metre crater appeared on Mancunian Way between the junctions with the A6 London Road and Fairfield Street, halting traffic in both directions. |
| picture of a sinkhole @HFRS attended in St Albans today, @HCCResilience working with partners to aid residents pic.twitter.com/NLA5oJwNFz | picture of a sinkhole @HFRS attended in St Albans today, @HCCResilience working with partners to aid residents pic.twitter.com/NLA5oJwNFz |
| Earlier in the year, Traigh golf course, near Mallaig on Scotland’s west coast, was left with £16,000 of damage after a hole damaged part of the fairway. In February, in Ripon, North Yorkshire, was left close to collapse after a hole was found underneath the structure. | |
| Last month, a sinkhole estimated to be 200 metres long, 50 metres wide and nine metres deep at its deepest point, appeared at Inskip Point, near Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia, in one of the more dramatic examples of how sinkholes can appear with little warning. | |
| What causes sinkholes? | |
| Natural sinkholes occur when water, from rain or underwater streams, seeps through soil and sediment to soluble rock such as sandstone, limestone, salt or gypsum. The water gradually dissolves the rock, to the point where it cannot support its own weight or anything placed on top of it, and it gives way. | |
| The resulting depressions characterise what is known as a karst landscape, in which hundreds or even thousands of relatively small sinkholes form across an area that, seen from the air, can appear almost pockmarked. | |
| About 10% of the world’s surface is made up of karst topographies. The entire state of Florida is classed as karst landscape and its department of environmental protection website has a section on how to fill sinkholes. | |
| In Britain, the carboniferous limestone of the Mendip Hills, the north of the South Wales coalfield, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, the northern Pennines and the edges of the Lake District all host well-developed karst landscapes. | |
| Karstic features are also common in the UK on the chalk of south-east England, on salt in the centre and north-east of the country, and particularly on the gypsum that underlies parts of eastern and north-eastern England, especially around Ripon and Darlington, and in the Vale of Eden. |