Police were forced to shut a road as a sink hole appeared hours after a fire broke out at an industrial unit nearby.

Progress Road was closed last night as a sink hole formed in the road while fire crews were dampening down remaining hotspots from an industrial unit blaze.

Several crews tackled a huge fire at a large warehouse in the road throughout yesterday and overnight, with diggers having to pull apart the remainder of the unit to extinguish remaining hotspots. 

According to AA traffic updates, the road remains "blocked due to emergency repairs" southbound at A1015 Rayleigh Road.

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A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called out to Progress Road, Southend, shortly before 9.30pm to assist with the temporary closure of the road while partner agencies dealt with this matter.

“We attended and temporarily closed Progress Road and Rayleigh Road to make the area safe.”

The Northbound side remains open, but traffic can only turn left, AA reports.

Ten crews, two aerial ladder platforms, a water bowser and the drone team were sent out to extinguish the blaze yesterday in sections and to ensure it did not spread further.

Residents and businesses nearby were urged to keep their windows shut as huge plumes of smoke covered the area.

Group manager Danny Partridge, incident commander, thanked the public yesterday for the patience while crews dealt with the major incident.

He said yesterday afternoon: “Our crews worked quickly to get the fire under control and we’ve had lots of different resources here today working together to help us tackle the fire from above ground and on the ground.

“We expect to remain on scene until the early evening and again thank the public for their patience.”