The sudden appearance of a sinkhole next to an elementary school in Wokingham, U.K., has caused safety concerns and led to the closure of the entire parking area.
The sinkhole, which measures around 6½ feet in depth and 3⅕ feet in width, was discovered on Monday morning. The affected area, situated close to the school buildings, has been securely fenced off, prompting the closure of the entire car park to vehicular traffic.
Meredith Vigh, a mom with kids at the nearby Charvil Piggott Primary School, shared a picture of the hole on X—formerly Twitter—and wrote: "I can't help questioning if my kids school should be closed today and not just the carpark... this is not photoshopped."
"When I first saw it, I thought it was a joke, that it had been Photoshopped," Vigh told Newsweek. "Then I was worried because I thought initially that it was on the side of the car park that's closer to the school buildings.
"It's probably a long way from being fixed, but that area of the car park is now securely fenced off, and the whole car park is currently closed to cars," said Vigh. "It certainly livened up an otherwise ordinary Monday."
The land where the sinkhole appeared is owned by Wokingham Borough Council, and Newsweek has reached out to the council for comment via email.
David Corringham, the school's premises manager, provided insight into the nature of the sinkhole and told the BBC: "It's all just sand down there; there's no real bedrock or anything—it looks like it's been washed away. We've had all the school kids coming in this morning wondering if there's buried treasure in the car park."
Parents have since been urged to seek alternative arrangements, avoiding parking nearby or dropping their children near the area. Newsweek reached out to Charvil Piggott Primary School via email for comment.
Sinkholes can be caused by multiple natural and human-induced factors. Natural occurrences like seasonal changes in groundwater, freeze and thaw or heavy rain can cause them to occur. Human activities such as overpumping of groundwater, diverting surface water, drilling new water wells, and construction can also trigger sinkholes to form.
About 20 percent of U.S. land is susceptible to sinkholes, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The most damage from such collapses is reported to occur in the states of Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
The danger posed by sinkholes is real as they can cause structural damage to buildings, roads and bridges. Repairing them after they appear can be very expensive. The average cost of repairs due to sinkhole damage in the last 15 years has been around $300 million per year.
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