Urgent evacuation as BOMB is found in garden in Plymouth with residents rushed out of homes and warned to stay away
A MAN who hit a suspected WW2 bomb with a spade said he found it about a week ago.
Homes have been evacuated and the Royal Navy's bomb squad called in after police declared a major incident in Plymouth.
The man, who Plymouth Live is not identifying, said he was helping dig up the back garden of his daughter's home to prepare it for an extension.
He said the object is about one metre long and half a metre in diameter and he had found part of it had broken off.
The man said: "We've been digging out for the foundations for an extension. Every time we reached what we thought was hard ground the rain would come and we'd find we had to keep digging down.
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"We actually found it about a week ago. It was just outside the building line and the building inspector said we needed trench of around 650mm. I hit something with a spade but we weren't sure what it was at first. Since then we've had so much rain, the bank collapsed, then there was more rain on Friday and it's been revealed more and more.
"I've been looking at the Plymouth Bombs Map and found red dogs around St Michael Avenue area, so there were certainly bombs dropped in this area during the war."
The Royal Navy's bomb disposal team are currently at the site along with over a dozen police cars.
Officers were called to a property in St Michael Avenue, Keyham, Devon, just after 10.30am.
A 200 metre cordon has been put in place and local residents are being evacuated from neighbouring homes.
Police are also warning other nearby residents nearby they have found the explosive.
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson said: “Officers are currently at a property in St Michael Avenue Plymouth where a suspected WW2 ordnance has been found. There is a cordon in place and some properties are being evacuated. Please avoid the area at this time and we’ll provide more information when we can.”
Anyone needing shelter following the evacuation the find it at a local library.
