A number of homes have been evacuated after the ground caved-in on a suburban road in south-east Queensland.

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pissale says parts of Duncan Road in Ipswich have fallen away, leaving big cracks in the road and causing structural damage to homes.

He says three people have been evacuated and the road has been closed while engineers test the area.

Mr Pissale says there is a history of ground movement in the suburb.

"Overnight there's been probably about eight-to-nine inches of subsidence and you can actually see the movement in the road," he said.

"We've had to close off the road it's local traffic only. People can't close their doors, so there's been a total movement in the area.

"There's been some subsidence and it's like a fault [has] developed in the area."

Engineers are now testing the stability of the road.