Eastney Road in Portsmouth closed after 'building collapses'

Eastney Road was shut near the junction of Henderson Road and Methuen Road after it is believed a roof collapsed this afternoon.

Fire engines and police cars blocked off the road.

Residents reported hearing a loud bang as the roof fell in.

Eight or nine people have been evacuated from their homes and being sheltered at Eastney Evangelical Church around the corner.

One man was in the property with the collapsed roof when the incident happened, but he escaped the building safely.

Church community members were called in to open the church for those who had been evacuated, and were offering food and drinks.

The Highways Agency, police, Portsmouth City Council contractor Colas, and the fire service are all on the scene.

Bryony Reeve, a neighbour, had been waiting outside her home for an hour and a half.

She said: ‘We were sat in our lounge and we heard this almighty bang.

‘I’ve never heard a ban like it.

‘It was quite scary.

‘We saw there were bricks in our garden, and we saw that the roof had just collapsed.

‘The roof had blown over to the house on the right.

‘We grabbed our stuff and came running out.’

Bryony praised the work of the emergency services who had come to deal with the roof collapse, and said that they had even brought out a bowl of water for a dog who had been evacuated from one of the affected buildings.