Perry Street burst main left homes without water for hours

Fifteen houses were left without water for more than seven hours after the burst water main in Perry Street, Billericay, yesterday afternoon.

Families were provided with bottled water by Essex and Suffolk Water as workers desperately tried to resolve the issue which sent floods of water flowing down the street, covering pavements and gardens.

Essex and Suffolk Water were called to the scene at 10am and managed to “isolate the issue” within 30 minutes - however due to its complex nature homes were left without water throughout the afternoon.

Perry Street resident, Anna Santoro, 64, said: “Water was flowing across my driveway, and it flooded my garden.

“I’ve not had a chance to check the garage yet and I won’t know for some time if there is any internal damage.

“The foundations could have been totally saturated.

“It was quite the shock, the homes are on a slant so it had a mini-river effect, it was quite the flow and you could see it coming through our fence.”

Multiple vans and at least six workers were on the scene throughout the day and flood water was cleared by about 4pm, however works continued into the evening to try and restore water to homes.

Anna added: “The bottom two thirds of the garden were covered in water, everyone was in a panic trying to get through to Essex and Suffolk Water.

“I cannot complain how quick they resolved the situation.

“At the moment, I don’t know if there will be subsidence or mould particularly now in the winter, January and February are colder months.

“It was a six-inch pipe I’m told, imagine if it was a larger main.

An Essex and Suffolk Water spokesman said: “There were 15 homes that were a bit more tricky to get back on, so we’re providing them with bottled water until it’s resolved - which we expect to be at about 5pm.

“We had to close part of Perry Street for our teams to safely repair the pipe and we hope the roadworks will be finished soon.”