A small sinkhole has opened up on the North Lawn of the White House and it is reportedly getting bigger.

Voice of America's White House bureau chief Steve Herman first spotted the hole near the press briefing room last week.

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A second hole has since opened up beside the first, The Washington Post reported.

A sinkhole is caused when material below the surface shifts, and can range in size from a slight depression in the ground right up to an enormous hole reaching down half a kilometre.

The White House sinkhole, which has since been covered up, is believed to be caused by recent heavy rainfall in the area, creating swamp-like conditions.

"It's sort of fluids interacting with solids, and gravity taking effect," volcanologist, geologist and Democrat candidate Jess Phoenix told the New York Times.

"Not the gates of hell opening," she added.

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Coincidently, this sinkhole comes almost exactly a year after one opened up at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

The news was swallowed up on social media with many debating the existential meaning behind the sinkhole as well as plenty of 'drain the swamp' jibes.

The sinkhole even has its own Twitter account now.

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