A huge sinkhole has appeared in a road in Co Down after seawater surged under a coastal defence wall.
The hole appeared on the outskirts of Millisle on stretch of Ballywalter Road, popular with cyclists.
One local man said: “It just appeared after an overnight storm. The tide washed in and under the foundations of the sea defence wall and pulled out foundations.
“That meant the wall dropped and a hole appeared in it, and that then caused the top to collapse and what we have left is a huge hole in the road.
“It’s about the size of a grave and is extremely dangerous. It’s on a part of the road popular with people stopping off for the view over to the islands, the bus often stops here on a break, cyclists, walkers and all sorts of vehicles stop here.
“A lot of this coast road is falling away in recent months, large holes appearing on the side of the road and it takes a lot of work to repair them because the work is battling against the pull of the tide and the elements.
“This is the biggest I’ve seen yet. A full grown man could literally vanish into it. The council has erected fencing now to close off this part of the road until repairs can be worked out.”
Local councillor Eddie Thomson, asked locals to avoid the area until repairs were complete.
He said: “It was a shocking size. I contacted the Ards and North Down Road Service to get immediate action and now the sea defence wall has been repaired to stop the foundations being undermined.
“To date large stones have been placed in the hole and the tarmac will follow as soon as we can get it and until that happens, it will remain fenced off.
“Six months ago there was a problem with the sea wall which needed to be repaired but it was not prioritised until the huge hole appeared in the road. Hopefully we’re almost there now with the repairs and we can open up that section of road again.
“In the meantime I’m asking the public to stay away from that area until it is made safe and accessible.”
For the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here.
