Cleobury Mortimer hit by burst main

A "raging torrent" of water was sent gushing through a street in a south Shropshire town after a main pipe burst.

Gallons of water flowed through Station Road in Cleobury Mortimer yesterday. Firefighters spent more than an hour pumping the water into the river. A number of homes were left with no water.

Residents said they were met with a "river" of water after the pipe burst about 4.30pm.

Valerie Reynolds, of Childe Road, said: "There was just an enormous fountain of water, I have never seen anything like it. It must have been going for a while.

"We were driving through a river really. It was gushing down to the T-junction and charging down to the natural base which is were the river is.

"All the commuting traffic was affected it must have been at least a foot deep. It brought all the traffic to a standstill. It is a busy road and it was just at the time when people were coming home from work ."

Mrs Reynolds said everyone was very sensible and took it in turns to drive through the edge of the flowing water.

"Gallons of water must have been wasted. it was amazing."

Mike Longmore, who lives near to where the pipe burst, said the road was closed shortly after the flood and it was still shut this morning.

He added: "It looked like a cloud burst had taken place. We get the same sort of thing when there is a tremendous storm.

"I think they had to close the road because the water was being forced into somebody's house. I did pass through it to try and find out what was going on so I had a drive up there. The fire brigade were absolutely brilliant."

Gill Dickinson, media relations manager for Severn Trent, today confirmed that there was a burst water main in the town.

She said: "We were able to repair the leak the same day. Some customers may have experienced a water supply loss or some reduction in water pressure as a result of the burst and we would like to apologise to any customers who may have been inconvenienced.

"We did have some calls. I don't know how many people lost water. There are about 170 properties but not all of them will have necessarily been affected."