Children banned from playing outside in case sinkholes swallow them
Parents are banning their children from playing in the street over fears they will get swallowed up by sinkholes.
A number of huge holes in the ground have opened up in Thorpe Hamlet, a small suburb near Norwich City Centre.
The residential estate has seen heavy rainfall over winter, causing terrifying cracks and craters as deep as 8ft to emerge.
People claim that the four sinkholes have all emerged since January 25 and are worsening every day with some residents even being re-homed due to the situation.
The Sun reports that some frightened residents in the area have stopped their children from playing outside.
Shirwan Saed, 39 said that he no longer lets his son ride his bike along the crumbling roads.
He said: ‘My six-year-old son, Ara, used to ride his bike outside, we could see him from the window and thought he was safe but now there’s a large sinkhole with a safety barrier around it and it’s getting bigger every day.
‘It’s just too risky to let him out to play any longer.’
Other residents even face being moved from their homes until the problems can be solved.
Toni Yallop, 52, is disabled and lives with her husband Chris who noticed a sinkhole had swallowed a tree in their garden.
She claims she is now facing the prospect of having to leave her home as it may be ‘subsiding.’
She said: ‘It’s a huge hole, about twenty-five feet wide and eight feet deep.
‘He immediately complained to the council as we also noticed our garden gate is leaning at a strange angle and we fear the house and garden is also subsiding.’
‘The council has rehoused my neighbour from the bungalow next door and want us to leave urgently too. However, the accommodation we were offered isn’t suitable as I’m disabled.
‘I look out every day and see the tree in the sinkhole get lower and lower and my garden gradually subsiding.
‘Will I wake up one morning to find part of my bungalow has disappeared too?’
Meanwhile, NHS worker Terri Hall, 63, has said she no longer lets her dog of the lead on their walks as she is scared he may fall into one of the craters by mistake.
She said: ‘ I’m now extremely nervous about walking Buddy, I keep him on a tight lead because you can’t be sure when another hole might open up and he’d fall in.
‘It’s a terrible situation and requires much more to be done.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.