Burst main sends jet of water 50ft into the air

A burst water main is sending thousands of gallons of water into the air, covering neighbouring properties and leaving some residents without supplies.

Residents of Matson in Gloucester have said they woke up to a "commotion" and saw water was shooting 50ft (15m) into the air above Winnycroft Lane.

Christine Dix, a resident of Matson, said: "It's absolutely awful. We've never seen anything like this around here in 40 years. And it's a bit scary, to be honest."

Severn Trent has yet to confirm how many houses have been impacted, but a spokesperson said bottled water is being handed out and engineers are working to fix the issues.

They added the pipe is one of the largest in its network and staff hope to "carefully manage the flow of water while maintaining" supplies.

Ms Dix said she was first alerted to the incident by a neighbour at about 07:00 BST on Wednesday.

"When I got dressed and came down here to see what was going on, I was just flabbergasted," she said.

Ms Dix said one house behind the stream was "taking all the brunt" of the burst pipe, which was leaving a lot of water on roads.

Severn Trent warned that when water comes back on, it may be brown and low pressure, which is normal.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent said they are aware it is "causing some local disruption and we're working directly with anyone impacted by the burst".

"While supplies are on and we're working up repair plans, we are checking in on our customers on our priority services register to make sure they're okay, and have what they need.

"We'd like to thank the local community for their patience as we work, and for welcoming our teams," they said.

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