Remember watching cartoons as a kid and getting really worked up about how quicksand was a threat?
It was everywhere. People would go on adventures, get stuck in quicksand and if they didn’t move quickly they’d end up swallowed whole.
Then you grew up and found out quicksand wasn’t everywhere, and was just bodies of water with a bit of topsoil on top.
You stopped being scared of them.
And then sink holes happened.
This is the incident we are currently dealing with in Woodland Terrace SE7. 348RG pic.twitter.com/6FdT21zBSV
— Greenwich MPS (@MPSGreenwich) May 12, 2016
This morning saw a large sinkhole appear in Greenwich, London. Managing to swallow an entire car.
Greenwich Borough Metropolitan Police were called to Woodland Terrane in south east London at 3.23am following reports of a sinkhole in the road. When officers found the hole, they reported it had dragged in a large blue estate car and had enough space to fit another vehicle within its space.
A police spokesman said nobody was injured when the sinkhole opened up.
People on social media were understandably taken aback by the size of the massive hole that appeared overnight.
This whole pothole situation is getting ridiculous now… @MPSGreenwich @PrimlyStable
— Christopher Barr (@RealRandomChris) May 12, 2016
@MPSGreenwich First Plumstead, now Charlton. Our Royal Borough has a huge mole problem!
— Greenwich Hour (@GreenwichHour) May 12, 2016
While others too the surprising development in good humour.
.@MPSGreenwich I think I know what happened. pic.twitter.com/TEizwexSDE
— Dave Briggs (@xtaldave) May 12, 2016
@MPSGreenwich @Visit_Wakefield On street parking space, good location. Won’t be long until someone offers to rent that out. £500 a week?
— Retro Kidneys (@RetroKidneys) May 12, 2016
A little later on Thursday morning, it was revealed that the car in question belongs to this man, Abdul Ahmadzai…
The Vauxhall Zefira belongs to the brother of Abdul Ahmadzai who was visiting last night and left the car. pic.twitter.com/kwi1GrtLar
— Joe Nerssessian (@joenerssessian) May 12, 2016
…who had a brilliantly British reaction to the shocking sight of his car being sucked into the ground:
Mr Ahmadzai said he woke up at 4am. Saw the car. Saw the hole. Went back to sleep. "Nothing I could do" he tells @PA.
— Joe Nerssessian (@joenerssessian) May 12, 2016
“Nothing I could do”.
We salute you Abdul.
As best as we can understand, sinkholes are caused via a combination of erosion and water drainage.
Cover collapse sinkholes, like the one that has just occurred in Greenwich are caused in areas where soluble rock gets dissolved by water that manages to worm its way into cracks formed by erosion.
As water continues to hollow out the bedrock beneath, eventually the weight of the top layer becomes too much and it all caves in forming a sinkhole.
Simply put: rain gets into the ground from knackered roads and pavements and washes out all the rock supporting it.
Next time you feel like complaining about the cost of your council tax, remember that some of that money goes towards you not getting swallowed up by the ground. Ooft.
