Surrey sinkholes: Craters opens up on the main street of English village

Looking more like the aftermath of a bomb blast, this is the scene in a quiet UK village whose high street collapsed without warning.

Residents were forced to evacuate their homes after a huge sinkhole appeared on Monday — only for another to open up yesterday.

A major incident has been declared in Godstone, Surrey, and more buildings evacuated amid fears of an explosion caused by exposed cables and homes being left without a water supply.

The second crater was perilously close to swallowing up a parked car, coming within a yard of its wheels.

Villagers have described evacuating their homes within ten minutes, amid fears properties could topple into the holes – the first of which had reached at least 20m in length yesterday.

“We got a violent knocking on the door ... The policewoman told us we needed to get out straight away,” mother Noosh Miri told the BBC.

Nicola and Damian Styles, who live on the now-craterous Godstone High Street, said they were woken in the early hours of Tuesday by officers.

“We just sort of grabbed everything — the clothes on our back and our work laptops, and drove out quickly,” they said.

Homes there were built three years ago and sell for up to £500,000 ($993,000).

While no cause has been confirmed, the site is a former sand quarry and locals fear there could be caves underground.

Others have suggested heavy lorries could have led to the road crumbling.

Ms Miri said: “We think it’s a combination of different things ... it’s not a simple burst pipe or the caves or lorries.”

SES Water said it was aware of a burst water main pipe on the street, adding that it was delivering bottled water to any residents cut off.

The sinkhole likely was caused by a water main that burst under the road, said Philip Collins, the deputy dean of engineering at Brunel University of London.