A SINKHOLE which suddenly opened up on a street in South Wales has been filled in almost three weeks after it appeared.
The massive sinkhole opened up on a residential street in Merthyr Tydfil earlier this month.
The sinkhole was several metres deep and spanned the entire pavement and some of the road on a residential street in Nant Morlais, Pant,
(Image: Wales News Service) The sinkhole before the works.
Work to fill in the void at Nant Morlais has been done. It has been filled in by rubble.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council said: “A 6ft steel pipe has been inserted into the existing culvert to support the flow of any overflow water going through it.”
Contractors have been onsite carrying out temporary works to fill the hole with stone.
Residents said they heard ‘rumblings and bangs’ a week before the sinkhole opened up on their street and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council says Storm Bert caused it to form.
Leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, Councillor Brent Carter, gave an update on the situation, saying that the sinkhole was caused by rubble being washed down the hills from Storm Bert.
(Image: Wales News Service) The sinkhole has now been filled in.
“The sinkhole has resulted from the sheer volume of material that was washed down from the mountain during Storm Bert,” he said.
A whole week before the sinkhole opened up, residents heard what may have been the initial signs of trouble.
Cllr Carter said: “At around 6am on Sunday 24th November three separate households from Nant Morlais heard rumblings and bangs, which at the time they thought was thunder. However, from our understanding that is when the collapse happened and it has taken 6 days to migrate to the surface.”
Residents had to be evacuated due to concerns for their safety, but they were allowed back into their homes over the last couple of weeks.
More work will need to be done to fix the hole entirely but the sinkhole has been filled.