Residents in England Evacuated Overnight Due to Massive Sinkhole

— -- Residents were evacuated overnight in St. Albans, north of London, after a 32-foot deep and 66-foot wide sinkhole appeared in front of a driveway.

“Fire crews attended a sink hole on Fontmell Close, St Albans,” Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Tweeted, “and worked with other agencies to ensure people were safely evacuated.”

Properties around the sinkhole have reportedly been cut off from electricity and gas because of a smell of gas, and highway engineers are assessing the damage before repairing the crater.

“Holes of this kind crop up across Hertfordshire often for historic reasons and we’d like to reassure the public that it is rare for them to turn into large holes,” Richard Thake, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, told local radio BOBfm Home Counties.

The local Fire and Rescue Service said an evacuation center had been set up and was being assisted by the British Red Cross.

In August, a large hole reported to be 40 feet deep appeared on a busy road in Manchester, while earlier in the year, “Traigh Golf Course” on Scotland's west coast saw a sinkhole cause $25,000 in damage.

“The strata at the site consist of about 13ft of sands, silt and gravels overlying chalk,” Peter Hobbs, from the British Geological Survey, told the Press Association while adding that “sinkholes in this chalk formation are not uncommon."