MASSIVE fatberg weighing 300 tonnes blocks sewer in Birmingham

Teams are working around the clock in Birmingham to clear the giant mass

A giant fatberg that weighs about 300 tonnes is clogging up a sewer in Birmingham.

Fatbergs form when people put things they shouldn't down sinks and toilets, like wet wipes, cooking oil or nappies.

Severn Trent Water, the company in charge of keeping the sewer system clear, say this fatberg is likely to be one of the biggest blockages it has ever had to deal with.

It is estimated to be 1m high and a whopping 1,000m long and weighs the same as around 250 family cars.

Teams are now working around the clock to clear it, but it could take until June for it to be completely gone.

Severn Trent said it was alerted to the fatberg by sewer sensors and engineers.

"It is a massive project and it is not resolved yet," said operations manager Scott Burgin.

"This giant mass is the result of everyone occasionally washing and flushing the wrong things down the drains and not realising the impact that it is having," he added.

In the last year, the company said it has been called to thousands of blockages across the West Midlands with three-quarters caused by people "misusing the sewer system".

Other famous fatbergs

One of the biggest ever fatbergs was discovered in London in 2017.

It was 250 metres long and weighed a huge 130 tonnes.

That is the same weight as 11 double-decker buses and the same length as two Wembley football pitches!

Another fatberg found in Devon was bigger than the leaning tower of Pisa and took about eight weeks to fully clear.

There are 300,000 sewer blockages each year, costing the country £100m to get rid of.