A giant sinkhole on a Welsh street is still growing – with evacuated residents being told they won’t be able to return home anytime soon.
The sinkhole began as the size of a ‘pillow’ but quickly escalated and is still growing, estimated to be up to 50ft deep and 16ft wide.
It appeared on a road outside of a bungalow in Nant Morlais in Pant, Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, on Sunday morning and cracks are continuing to spread through walls and gardens.
The enormous black void appeared last weekend after heavy rain when neighbours heard a “rumbling” sound and the 50ft chasm opened up.
Engineers built an underground dam to repair the broken culvert and divert the water and installed a pump to empty the hole.
But officials say the heavy rain is falling faster than workers are able to clear the 50ft deep sinkhole.
It comes as Storm Darragh is due to hit the country in the coming days.
Some neighbours living on Nant Morlais had been told they would be able to return home next week – but Merthyr Tydfil Council say that is no longer safe.
A statement said: ‘Due to the current weather conditions, the water level within the culvert has risen and Welsh Water have had to pause their works for a crane to be moved onsite to carry out the urgent stabilisation works.
Dramatic aerial footage has revealed inside a massive 50ft sinkhole which has opened up on a quiet residential street in Merthyr, south Wales
One local estimated that the depth of the sinkhole could be up to 60ft
The huge sinkhole appeared in the garden of a home in Nant Morlais in Merthyr, south Wales
‘The water pumps working to divert the flow of the river are also struggling to cope.
‘As of this morning, the sinkhole has increased in size.
‘Unfortunately, this means that we are no longer in a position to allow householders from the lower end of the cul-de-sac to return home safely, possibly until early next week.
‘However, this timeline will be heavily reliant on weather conditions over the weekend.
‘We will provide a further update tomorrow.’
A total of 29 homes have been evacuated in Pant, Merthyr Tydfil, as work continues to shore up the hole.
Councillor Brent Carter, Leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, said: ‘The sinkhole has resulted from the sheer volume of material that was washed down from the mountain during Storm Bert.
‘At around 6am on Sunday 24th November three separate households from Nant Morlais heard rumblings and bangs, which at the time they thought was thunder.
The sinkhole in Merthyr Tydfil began as the size of a ‘pillow’ but quickly escalated and it is still growing, estimated to be up to 50ft deep and 16ft wide
It appeared on a road outside of a bungalow in Nant Morlais in Pant, Merthyr Tydfil, on Sunday morning and cracks are continuing to spread through walls and gardens
Other parts of the road have cracks and smaller holes which open up into the ground
Council leader Brent Carter said more cracks were starting to show and they will ‘move heaven and Earth’ to make sure it does not happen again
‘However, from our understanding that is when the collapse happened and it has taken 6 days to migrate to the surface.
‘We understand that residents from the street are keen to know when they will be able to return to their homes, however we will not be able to give a timeline on this until a thorough inspection of the culvert has taken place to eliminate any further risk.
‘In the meantime, residents from the 29 properties that were evacuated are being supported by our Housing Officers.
‘Safety is our absolute priority.’
Cllr Carter said he hoped residents would be back in their homes by Christmas but could not give a timeline for how long the work would take to be completed.
One on-looker said workmen were expected to first dam the underground culvert to prevent the sinkhole from opening up again before it could be filled in.
He said: ‘The lorries arrived with all of these boulders but it looks like they will have to dam it first underground which could be quite a big job.’
Homeowner Stephen Regan, 55, moved into his house nearest to the sinkhole a year ago and said he feared he could lose his home.
Speaking on Sunday night, he said: ‘It was very scary, you could hear it rumbling and collapsing when it was happening.
‘I just want to get back in the house but we don’t know what the situation is at the moment.
‘My fear is my house could go… I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.’