That sinking feeling

A huge sink hole has appeared in the centre of Rochdale Road, near Tandle Hill Park.

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HOUSEHOLDS were left without water and motorists forced into making diversions after a massive sinkhole appeared on Rochdale Road.

The road sank after a burst water main washed away the ground underneath the surface near the Halfway House pub in Royton at 11am yesterday.

Residents had to cope with their taps running dry and facing an ominous pit as engineers from United Utilities arrived at the scene and closed the road.

Diversions were put in place via Shaw Road, Royton, Crompton Way and Rochdale Road, Shaw and Broad Lane, Rochdale.

Engineers, who brought bottled water for residents, started ripping the road up to assess the extent of the damage.

Meanwhile Oldham Council warned drivers to avoid the area.

Suspicions of trouble ahead were aroused with United Utilities when they received calls from residents saying they had no water. A colleague attended and found a leak before it burst and the road caved in.

A United Utilities engineer said: "It is going to take a big excavation to repair the road and we are going to work all through the night. The water main burst and that has caused the sink hole, it is an old main.

"It could have been leaking for a while. We started getting calls of no water and a colleague came down and found that there was a leak.

He said: "We will rip the road up here and see what we have got. The biggest priority is to get the repairs done and get people's water back on.

"It is all hands to the deck when we realise there is a problem."

Neil Wainwright, whose son lives on Rochdale Road, attended the scene to check the extent of the damage after his son, who works in Yorkshire saw it on Facebook.

He said: "It is a massive hole isn't it. It must be at least twelve foot deep. I think it is the water from the other night that has caused it. It runs from the top and during the storm it was like a river.

"Nobody is going to get past there any time soon. My wife was coming back from yoga this morning and she said she saw someone driving past and there was a dip in the road.

"Usually you can see cracks coming through but it has obviously been washed from underneath."

Jordan Belfield, upon hearing the sink hole had occurred came to see what had happened.

He said "I think it is crazy. It is crazy, I feel sorry for all these people who are going to have no water.

"It's going to cause a lot of traffic later on when it is busy."

Keith Barlow, who lives opposite the sink hole, felt the proximity of it was slightly daunting.

He said: "It is a bit near isn't it. I haven't seen anything like it before, especially outside my own house."