A long term resident of a quiet Welsh village was shocked when he woke up to find an enormous thermal spring had appeared beneath his house.
Alun Lewis's 40 years of living in Ystalyfera near Swansea without incident came to an abrupt halt when he swung open his door early one morining.
A sulphurous spring had emerged from the ground and had turned his front garden into a makeshift swimming pool, Wales Online reported.
He said: "I got up at half five, and opened the door to see a river of water coming down the side of the house.
"We thought a pipe had burst and had to block the water from coming into the house with towels and blankets, and called the water board."
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But it turned out the residential river wasn't anything to do with utility company Welsh Water, who denied involvement along with the town's sewerage company.
"Now the Coal Authority is investigating to see if it might be from an 1870s mine shaft across the road," Mr Lewis explained.
"The water might have made its way to the weakest point, which happened to be in our front garden."
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While the water was being drained away Mr Lewis's son dug a seven feet hole to see if he could find its source, but to no avail.
Since then, the hole has quickly filled up, leaving him with an impromptu and unwanted water feature.
Mr Lewis continued: "There's no damage to the house, thankfully, but the water is causing other problems.
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"It's gone into the road which has had to be blocked off, so we're down to single file, and the water smells like sulphur, so the neighbours have been complaining about the smell."
"We never expected something like this to happen, we've been here forty years with no problems.
"The day before my wife was planting flowers there, and now they're gone, ruined."
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A spokesperson for the Coal Authority said investigations into the incident were still ongoing.
She added: “We were contacted initially by Neath Port Talbot Council about the water coming out of the site and we are now carrying out investigations to determine the cause.
“If these investigations conclude that it is a result of historical coal mine workings, we will undertake ground remediation work to make the area safe.”
