Narrowboat reisdents along the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch woke in terror to ‘cracking and banging’ as the canal embankment collapsed, sending water rushing out and boats into a deep ‘sinkhole’
Devastating pictures have shown the extent of the aftermath of a ‘sinkhole’ that opened up in a Shropshire canal, swallowing boats like a “scene from the Titanic film”.
Narrowboat owners along the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch woke in terror to the sounds of “cracking and banging” as the ‘sinkhole’ opened up, taking two narrowboats down with it just after 4am yesterday. A major incident was declared after the incident, which caused water to rush into a nearby field and the bottom of the canal to fall away, leaving a trench.
12 people were rescued and 50 firefighters were sent to the scene, but according to police there were no reports of casualties. Engineers from the Canal and River Trust have now said that earlier descriptions from emergency services of a “sinkhole” were not accurate, claiming that the incident was actually an “embankment failure.” Mark Durham, principal engineer for the Canal and River Trust, explained that the embankment in question was man-made, desgined to “hold the canal up, which it’s done for over 200 years”, until Monday. He added that it was too early to know how the embankment had become compromised.
56-year-old Phil Johnson said he woke up to the sounds of “cracking and banging” and quickly got dressed before leaving his boat to see what was happening. He said: “I saw the water flying past the boat at horrendous speed, I could hear like a waterfall around the corner from my boat. I went and had a look and was greeted by the most horrendous sight of seeing this boat stuck in the breach at the bottom, being basically flooded.”
Mr Johnson added that he saw a second boat “teetering on the edge” before it slowly fell in. He continued: “It’s awful to say but it reminded me of that horrible scene from the Titanic film, because that’s what it was like, when the back goes down and the bow comes up, and it finally just slid into the hole. It was horrible.”
He decided to go back to his boat to grab some clothes, but admitted he was “frightened to death” as it felt like it was going to tip onto its side. Mr Johnson added: “It was probably one of the scariest things of my life, I thought I was going to lose the lot.”
Paul Smith-Storey, 58, who also lives on a narrowboat on the canal said he woke up to a “big crash” with doors opening and items falling. He said: “We could hear a massive roar of water and we ran ahead about 90 yards from our boat and saw this massive sinkhole with a boat at the bottom of it, which was a bit shocking because there’ve been breaches before but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a boat at the bottom of a breach hole. The scary thing is we nearly moved our boats to those two spots yesterday, where the boats ended up in the sinkhole, so thankfully we didn’t. But we’re just thankful that the people on those boats had gotten off safely and were on the other side of the tow path and they were shouting to say they were OK.”
He added: “It fels like a disaster movie, especially when that boat dropped over the edge. It’s just incredible, these steel boats weigh about 17 tonnes and to see the force of the water just carry that over the edge is quite scary.”
Emergency services were at the scene after the breach on the Llangollen Canal near New Mills Lift Bridge. Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said three boats were caught in a developing ‘sinkhole’ approximately 50 metres by 50 metres in size and that approximately 12 people from nearby moored boats were helped to safety. Fire service area manager Scott Hurford said it was extremely fortunate that no one was injured during the “unusual” incident. He said of the narrow boat residents: “It’s my understanding that they recognised the water level was dropping and started to do their own evacuation and raised the emergency services. When we came on scene we then supported the evacuation of those narrow boats.”
The fire service area manager added: “We are used to flooding and we are experienced and knowledgeable in that, but not necessarily from the canal network. Pathways either side (of the canal) are used regularly by the community. It’s very, very fortunate that there was no-one at that particular moment walking a dog or walking along the footpath.” West Mercia Police said in a statement: “There are currently no reports of any casualties, and residents are being assisted by the fire service.”
The Canal & River Trust said six boats near to the breach site are not in water and that it is hoping to get them afloat in the next few days. Chief executive Campbell Robb, said: “Our teams have been on site since the early hours, securing and making the canal safe and assisting the boat owners impacted. The most important thing is that all those affected are safe and, working with the local authority, there is accommodation in place for the people and pets unable to return to their boats this evening.”
