Large sinkhole forces closure of Godstone High Street in UK
WeirdNews
Large sinkhole forces closure of Godstone High Street in UK
(Web Desk) - A large sinkhole has opened up in a Surrey village - forcing the high street to be closed.
It happened after a water pipe burst, with some supplies to homes being affected.
A small number of buildings were evacuated as a precaution and a 100m cordon was put in place.
The sinkhole measured up to 62ft (19m), according to reports, but this has not been confirmed by authorities.
Surrey County Council has declared a major incident and local residents have been urged to avoid the area while repair work is being carried out.
Residents who are forced to leave their homes have "no idea when they will be able to go back or even when they can get their personal possessions".
'A lot of large lorries'
Back in 2019, there was a "slight sinkhole" in the same place, she said, and the village is "right next to the M25", meaning there are "a lot of large lorries using the road regularly".
"It's really scary to think that's the road all the schoolchildren go down during school time," she said. "Thankfully, we're on half-term at the moment, but it doesn't even bear thinking of what could have happened."
Nicola and Damian Styles, 46 and 44, live in Godstone High Street and said they were woken up by police knocking on their door at about half past midnight on Tuesday morning, who told them to evacuate their home because there was a risk of a gas explosion.
"It was a shock," Mrs Styles said.
"My sister lives in Purley so we just drove there in the middle of the night."
Mr Styles said: "We just sort of grabbed everything, the clothes on our back and our work laptops, and drove out quickly."
