Mississippi 'cave-in' swallows a dozen cars as huge hole opens up in IHOP car park

Drone footage shows the extent of the damage that saw a dozen vehicles fall into the collapsed ground

Drone footage has emerged of a Mississippi car park 'cave-in' that swallowed around a dozen vehicles.

The collapsed area stretches to over 400ft long and 35ft wide after appearing late Saturday night in an IHOP restaurant car park.

The town of Meridian lies near the state border with Alabama, which had experienced significant rainfall over the last two weeks according to the Meridian Star newspaper.

The town's Director of Public Safety, Buck Roberts, clarified that the 'cave-in' was not a sinkhole, which appears when an underground water aquifer dries and causes the ground above to collapse.

"You can call it what you want, a cave-in or whatever, but it is not a sinkhole," Roberts said.

No injuries have been reported and engineers are due to assess the ground.