The appearance of a 20 metre-wide sinkhole on the A25 in Surrey has been declared a major incident by agencies in the county.
At this point, there have been no reports of anyone being hurt.
The Guardian reported that the sinkhole on the High Street in Godstone Surrey – just south of Junction 6 of the M25 – appeared on Monday night and had grown to at least 20 metres by Tuesday afternoon, which led to water supplies being cut off and a garden being swallowed up.
Highway authority Surrey County Council is the lead agency, though it said the incident is now being managed by Surrey Local Resilience Forum.
A meeting of the Strategic Coordination Group for the incident was due to take place at 10am on Wednesday.
In a statement on Tuesday, Carl Bussey, the council’s assistant director for safer communities and chair of the Strategic Coordination Group, said: ‘We are working together with emergency services and utility companies, as well as our highways colleagues and Tandridge District Council, to protect the public and property in the area.
‘Investigations are continuing to make the area safe and to repair utilities, and we ask that people remain away from the vicinity while that important work is ongoing. We will keep people updated as the situation develops.’
Mr Bussey said that residents from within the cordon – around 30 properties – were being supported by Tandridge District Council with advice around accommodation. Highways diversions are also in place.
He added: ‘The Local Resilience Forum will continue to meet throughout this incident to ensure everything is being done to resolve the situation as quickly and safely as possible.’
SES Water said on Tuesday morning that its teams were on site undertaking the repairs to the burst water main, which had impacted water supplies to homes in the area, but reported on Wednesday morning that it had restored supplies to customers overnight.
