Giant 66ft and 33ft deep sinkhole swallows residential street - Residents trapped.

A giant 66ft sinkhole has swallowed up a quiet residential street days after worried neighbours first warned the council about a growing hole in the footpath.

Hertfordshire County Council has admitted it did not prioritise the hole in Fontmell Close in St Albans because they did not believe it would get any bigger- instead cordoning it off.
But at 1am on Thursday- just hours before workmen were due to arrive- families were woken by a loud smash and found their street had collapsed into a 33ft (10 metre) sinkhole.

Massive: The sink hole is 66ft wide and 33 ft deep

Twenty people, including five families, had been evacuated from their homes and are currently being looked after by staff at nearby Batchwood Sports Club.

Fortunately nobody was injured.

Pregnant mum, Gemma Bagshaw, 32, who was due to give birth last week has told how she had to clamber out of bed and dash to safety after "what sounded like an earthquake" outside her window. 

The freelance TV producer whose first child was due last Friday managed to escape with just her hospital notes and the hospital bag she had packed in preparation for going into labour
She said: "We were asleep in bed when we were awoken by this awful rumbling sound like an earthquake My husband Ben jumped out of bed and got to the window. Then I heard him say 'The road has gone.'.

Ben, a carpenter said "When I looked out of the window it was pitch black and all I could see was this shadow where the road had been. A fence had gone as well.
"He asked me for the phone so he could call the police and I got dressed as quick as I could. All I could grab were my hospital notes and a bag I'd packed for the hospital and a few clothes.
"If this does not bring on my labour then nothing will."
Meanwhile, Frank Kalcozi, 80, who is blind was reduced to tears when he was told he may have to move in to a care home because of the sinkhole.
His daughter Maria Ellwood, 53 said social workers were assessing her dad who came to Britain in 1956 to escape the Hungarian revolution and who has lived in Fontmell Close for ten years.
She said: “It's absolutely devastating and very, very traumatic. My dad was already depressed. We've got social services here at the moment and they are assessing him to see whether he can go into a nursing home."

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Trapped: many families could net get out of their homes

She added: "He is completely blind and he has other health problems as well.
"He has been crying, refusing to leave. He has been saying he just wants to die.
"You can't even walk down the street - you have to go through someone's garden.

"They are advising everyone who lives in Fontmell Close to leave. It is going to be very difficult because a lot of residents who live here, like my dad, are elderly.”
As emergency services and workmen continued to survey the site there was more bad news for residents who have already been told it will be weeks - if not months - before they can return to their homes.

A valuer from Hertfordshire estate agent Ashtons, warned the sink hole could wipe £50,000 off the value of residents' homes. The average house price in Fontmell Close is £585,000.