Residents forced to flee homes after huge 66ft sinkhole appears with 'unknown depth'

Residents of a quiet residential street were forced to flee their homes late at night after a huge 66ft-wide sinkhole opened up between two of their homes.

The gaping chasm appeared in the back gardens of the properties on Magdalen’s Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire, at around 11.25pm on Wednesday.

Fire crews were called to the incident and seven homes were evacuated – but no one was hurt during the sudden opening of the cavernous pit.

The depth of the hole is not yet known.

Firefighers, emergency planning teams and representatives from utilities companies will return to the scene on Thursday.

Frances O’Neill said she was woken by a “tremendous noise” and almost fell in when she went out on to her back patio to investigate.

She said: “I was just going down the steps into my garden and I put a foot down and then I realised the steps were moving, or had gone.

“I turned around and grabbed hold of a pole at the side and pulled myself back up and went quickly back into the house.

“I think luck was on my side earlier this morning.”

Fire officers directed residents to the pub over the road where Mrs O’Neill said she had a stiff drink.

The hole was mainly in the back garden of her next-door neighbour Ben Bramley, 43, a project manager with bookmakers William Hill.

He was falling asleep when his partner Adele Richardson woke him to say there had been a “commotion” in the back garden.

He said: “It sounded like a land slip, there was not a real thud or a big crash.”

Mr Bramley investigated and found the “absolutely enormous hole”.

He said: “It took out the entire back garden, from 10ft from the back door to the garage. It has taken a big chunk of land.”

Mr Bramley, father of 17-year-old Joshua, said Riponwas known to have gypsum deposits below which, when they dissolve, cause underground voids and then sinkholes.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Two fire crews and an officer from Ripon attended a sinkhole that had appeared at the rear of two properties.

“There were no injuries but seven properties were evacuated. The hole measured approx 20m (66ft) by 10m (33ft) with an unknown depth.

“We are re-attending the incident this morning with several other agencies who attended during the night.”

After the 2014 event the British Geological Survey (BGS) said gypsum under the town had dissolved to form a maze-like cave system.

It said in a report that sinkholes appeared in Riponevery two or three years in the 1980s and 1990s but there had not been any reported in the seven years before the 2014 event.

The BGS said there were a number of possible triggering mechanisms, relating to action of water underground.

Top image: SWNS