Godstone sinkhole: Second pit opens up in street forced to evacuate
A second sinkhole has opened in a Godstone street which has already been evacuated.
A cordon is in place on Godstone High Street and the road has been closed between Oxted Road and Bletchingley Road after a 65ft crate opened up.
A small number of buildings have been evacuated amid fears of an explosion caused by exposed cables.
The first sinkhole appeared on Monday (February 17) morning. The sinkhole is estimated to be at least 19m (62ft) long and about 3m (10ft) wide.
SES Water said it was aware of a burst water main in Godstone High Street in the early hours of Tuesday (February 18) morning, which was affecting water supply to homes in the area.
In a statement posted this morning (February 19), SES Water said overnight work to restore water supplies in the RH9 area had been successful.
A spokesperson for SES Water said: “Morning, we are pleased to confirm work overnight to restore supplies to customers in RH1 and RH9 has been successful.
“We'd like to thank our customers for their patience whilst our teams worked as part of a multi-agency response to the sinkhole.
“Our bottled water station at our Godstone Treatment Works site will now close.
“To acknowledge the inconvenience of the situation, customers who meet our Customer Charter under the Guaranteed Standards Service (GSS) scheme will automatically receive a payment to their water account.
“Due to the potential disturbance of sediment in the water mains your water may be discoloured, or you may notice a change in the taste, odour or colour.
“Please be assured there are no health risks associated with drinking this water. You can find out more information by reading our discoloured water factsheet or the taste and odour factsheet.
“Finally, the response to the sinkhole is part of a Local Resilience Forum led by Surrey County Council.
“We are aware of a number of properties who needed to be evacuated from site and will work with our partners to ensure these customers' needs are met including the full return of their supply.”
News of the second sinkhole came on Wednesday morning.
As a result, a major incident was declared by local agencies in Surrey and is now being managed by Surrey Local Resilience Forum, with Surrey County Council as the lead agency.