© SWNSThe soil has begun to sink at a cemetary in Kent
Huge chasms have begun to appear in a cemetery in Gravesend exposing unmarked graves and leaving families fearing for the loved ones they have lost.
Cemetery bosses spoke of their shock at seeing the huge number of graves being engulfed by the sodden ground following weeks of wet weather.
A council spokesman told Kent Online: "It is quite common for graves to sink - especially after a period of heavy rain. But none of the staff has seen anything of this scale."
He added that staff were working hard to fill the holes believed to be due to the recent storms and heavy rain experienced across the country.
He continued: "We have been working hard to top up the affected graves using extra staff from other teams and the Team Green. It is a gradual process but it is a priority to deal with them."
A sign outside the graveyard warns family members to keep away from certain areas where the ground is sinking.
It read: "The ground staff are backfilling them as soon as they can, but due to the scale of the problem, have had to tape off some areas where the situation is particularly bad.
"Please be careful when walking on the grass as sometimes the soil has compacted but the grass remains like a carpet over the hole."
Meanwhile in Maidstone a giant sinkhole has swallowed part of a main road and threatens to flatten four homes.
Engineers are working against the clock to repair the void, which appeared on the B2163 in the village of Leeds.
Residents from the four homes have been evacuated and now contractors are injecting the hole with high pressure concrete to depths of 16 metres in order to fill the 1.5 metre crevice.
A council spokesman said: "Water has definitely played a part in this, but the source of the water is yet to be determined.
"There are a lot of water supply pipes down there, as well as sewage removal pipes, but there is also a ground water system.
Amazing things are happening all over ..