- Sinkholes seen in Kent, South-East London and Hemel Hempstead
- One in High Wycombe engulfed a car as it was parked in the driveway
- Expert believes sinkholes are appearing five times their normal rate
- Forecast heavy rain could mean more holes appear around the country
On Saturday, a huge sinkhole opened up at the side of a house in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Swallowing up half of the front lawn, it was 35ft wide and 20ft deep.
Last week, a hole as deep as a double-decker bus is high suddenly opened up in the back-garden of a house in South-East London, almost swallowing a child's trampoline as the ground collapsed without warning.
Had the poor owner's daughter been rushing out to play on the trampoline, she could have very easily have been seriously injured or even killed.
© Press Association
Dangerous: A 50ft-deep hole appeared in the central reservation on a busy section of the M2 in north Kent last week
Two weeks ago, there was a similarly narrow escape for a family living in High Wycombe, when, overnight, a deep hole appeared without warning in the driveway just next to the house.
This time the adult daughter's car did end up buried at the bottom of the hole, thankfully, while there was no one in it.
And in Kent last week, motorists hoping to use the M2 were left fuming by the motorway's temporary closure, after a substantial hole - 15ft deep - suddenly appeared in the central reservation. Again, no one was hurt but had the hole opened up just a few yards away, it is obvious what a different story it could so easily have been.
All of these holes are what the public call sinkholes and now, after weeks of heavy rain, they seem to be appearing with ever greater regularity. Hard statistics are difficult to find - not least because sinkholes that appear on farmland often go unreported - but having studied them for 35 years, I'd estimate that sinkholes are currently appearing at four-to-five times their normal rate.
Comment: The appearance of sinkholes worldwide is has been accelerating for many years now. Truly a sign of the times. Here is just a small sample of stories SOTT has archived:
Sinkholes - A Sign of the Times?
Will the Dead Sea be eaten by sinkholes? Huge chasms are appearing in the region at a rate of one per day
Sinkholes become an item of study
45 sinkholes open up in Kaski, Nepal - 50 families displaced so far