A 15-metre-wide sinkhole has opened up under a car park outside a restaurant in the southern US state of Mississippi, swallowing at least 15 cars.

Witnesses at the scene on Saturday reported hearing a series of booms before the power went out and the sinkhole opened up, local broadcaster MSNewsNow said.

• Queen sued for over £100 m
• Charlie Hebdo’s crash cartoons anger Russians
• Bomb highly likely in plane crash

Drone footage shot the next day shows the extent of the damage, with the hole running from the front of the restaurant all the way to a creek about 180 metres away.

There were no reports of injuries and the cause of the sinkhole is not yet known, but WTOK reported the city had 254 millimetres of rain in the last two weeks.