Ground collapse forces home evacuation
A neighbourhood in the small city of Kamen in North Rhine-Westphalia had a fright when the threat of the ground collapsing beneath their homes forced an evacuation on Thursday evening.
Almost 50 Kamen residents had to leave their houses in the Ruhr region after the ground collapsed around a construction site where an excavator was drilling for a geothermal heat pump, a natural heating source for houses and water. The crash left a funnel-shaped hole with a diametre of 10 metres and four metres deep and destabilised the surrounding area.
Authorities evacuated the area when cracks in the ground appeared.
Residents left their homes safely and no one involved in the mining accident was injured.
Two houses are still in danger of collapsing as the surrounding earth drops at a rate of two centimetres an hour, a fire department spokesman said in a statement Friday morning. While the ground is now stable, houses within a 300-metre radius of the hole remain empty, he said.
It remains unclear how many people have been allowed to return to their homes.
Heavy equipment frequently causes old, unfilled mine pits to collapse in the Ruhr region after decades of heavy mining.
Comments
See Also
Almost 50 Kamen residents had to leave their houses in the Ruhr region after the ground collapsed around a construction site where an excavator was drilling for a geothermal heat pump, a natural heating source for houses and water. The crash left a funnel-shaped hole with a diametre of 10 metres and four metres deep and destabilised the surrounding area.
Authorities evacuated the area when cracks in the ground appeared.
Residents left their homes safely and no one involved in the mining accident was injured.
Two houses are still in danger of collapsing as the surrounding earth drops at a rate of two centimetres an hour, a fire department spokesman said in a statement Friday morning. While the ground is now stable, houses within a 300-metre radius of the hole remain empty, he said.
It remains unclear how many people have been allowed to return to their homes.
Heavy equipment frequently causes old, unfilled mine pits to collapse in the Ruhr region after decades of heavy mining.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.