I thought canal boating was a genteel leisure activity, it seems not!

[GEM43]

Major incident declared over Shropshire canal 'sinkhole'

 

[SimonX]

Oops! Where did the water go?
Scary for those onboard.

 

[veshengro]

Fortunate that nobody was injured and some of the Boats just need refloating. There was at least one major canal breach last winter I recall, in that case the canal bankside gave way and a boat ended up way out in a field.

 

[mjcoon]

The BBC TV news just said the water ended in an adjacent field...

 

[Plum]

This picture shows it was not a sinkhole but the bank of the canal was unstable and got washed into the lower level lake

 

[rotrax]

In the -IIRC- late 1800's, a Canal Breach at Weedon washed through the graveyard of Weedon Church, sending rotted caskets, bodies and bones down the High Street. Not pleasant, the Bishop had to shout to get thing patched up quick as residents kept on dying and there was nowhere to bury them! A quicker response in those days as it was still a working waterway with many cargo's carried to and from Birmingham.

 

[newtothis]

Bloody canal boaters, never check the tide tables properly.

 

[capnsensible]

Police are looking for a man with an enormous plug.

 

[ProDave]

Thanks for the clarification. The news at lunch time gave the "sink hole" story and I said to SWMBO I bet that is no sink hole but a bank collapse on a raised embankment. Which is what appears to be the case.

The boats just stranded in a now dry section of canal should be okay, but it will be some while before they can be re floated. the ones stuck in the washed out hole will be a challenge to recover.

 

[rotrax]

I suspect the repairs will be carried out quickly as the Llangothlen canal is a feeder for the Shropshire Union and also feeds water from the River Dee to Severn Trent Water's drinking water reservoirs.

 

[KevinV]

For those doubting the recent superstitions thread - the BBC reported that the centre barge is green