NEW YORK (AFP) - New Yorkers living in the borough of Brooklyn woke to a strange sight on Tuesday - a giant sinkhole had swallowed an enormous chunk of road.

The sinkhole, formed by the natural process of erosion, appeared shortly after 7am at an intersection in the neighbourhood of Sunset Park, according to the Fire Department.

The gaping hole exposed torn pipes and crushed asphalt at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 64th Street.

No one was hurt.

Sinkholes can be gradual but are often sudden.

A sinkhole in Guatemala in 2010, measuring 18m wide and about 30m deep, swallowed a three-storey building and a nearby house when it suddenly formed.