A massive sinkhole has opened up on a street in St Albans, forcing the evacuation of several families from their homes in the night.
The 66ft (20m) diameter hole spread across a front garden and driveway on Fontmell Close and is 33ft (10m) deep.as a result, five homes were evacuated and 20 people were taken to a centre set up at the nearby Batchwood Sports Centre since their homes was affected.
According to eyewitness,Residents are said to have
heard a crash before the huge crater appeared.
A spokesman for the fire service said it was previously aware of a small hole that was due to be filled in but was ignored.
adding that,Firefighters received a call at 01:30 BST to say the hole had "opened up substantially" overnight.
Reacting to the incident, A Hertfordshire County Council spokesman said: "We were informed about a hole in the footpath last week. It was inspected and barriers put around it on Monday and that,"Work was scheduled to fill it in this morning,and Following our inspection, there was no reason to suspect that the hole would collapse."
Steve Lynch, who lives nearby, told the BBC's Tony Fisher a postman stepped in the smaller hole thereby leading to the collapse;saying his wife saw the local postman pulling himself out of the hole and dusting himself... he was rolling around on the street looking quite badly injured."
Currently,Highways engineers are currently assessing the scene before the crater is filled in.
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