Burst main damages key commuter route
Drivers faced rush-hour delays this morning after flooding forced the closure of a main road into Leicester.
A burst water main sent filthy water pouring on to the A6 London Road, in Stoneygate, in the early hours of Sunday.
Contractors for Severn Trent said the road's surface has been so badly damaged it will not fully reopen until Wednesday.
A river of dirty water began pouring along the road between Knighton Drive and Toller Road in the early hours of yesterday.
It left three homes and the basement of a hotel under water.
Police closed the section of road at 8.30am as Severn Trent and city council contractors tried to repair the damage.
One lane and the slip road from Knighton Road remained closed this morning.
Temporary traffic lights were in place.
Faizal Patel was contacted by his parents, who live in London Road, at 8.30am yesterday to say their home had been flooded.
He spent much of the day bailing out water from their garage and front garden.
Mr Patel, from Oadby, said: "The area was under water when I got here. It was accumulating at the front of the house.
"There was at least six inches in the garage and several inches in the garden. It's a real mess."
Firefighters spent much of yesterday pumping water from the cellar of the Regency Hotel.
Duty manager Ellen Thompson said they had been alerted to the problem at 7am when a staff member discovered several feet of water in the basement.
She said: "Our first concern is for our residents and customers, but we are carrying on as best we can.
"The water was several feet high, so we called the fire service.
"It said it would stay with us all day to assess the situation."
A pensioner who lives in London Road said: "I looked out of the window this morning and all I could see was yellow water running past.
"It was tremendous. It was less than a metre from my house. I thought it would come in. That would have been quite serious."
Severn Trent spokesman Andrew Marsh said: "We apologise for the disruption this is going to cause. Clearly, this will cause a lot of disruption at rush-hour on Monday and Tuesday."
"Unusually, the water main has broken up the road surface quite badly.
"Four properties have been flooded.
"We have had 15 calls about low water pressure, but no one has been without water."
2 Comments
by K, Leicester
Monday, October 06 2008, 2:58PM
“It is lucky it didnt happen at rush hour, mind you saying that it doesnt take much to bring the city to a standstill anyway.
There are some minor roadworks in the Wigston area near the swimming pool, this is causing chaos. Took me 20 mins to get through it on Saturday afternoon.”
by Kevin Feltham, Chairman, CASCET
Monday, October 06 2008, 1:51PM
“There was considerable disruption and delay to commuters this morning 24 hours after the water main burst. I was delayed for 20 minutes on London Road at 10.30am this morning. But imagine the effect this would have had if it had burst at 8.30am on a weekday. Despite good maintenance and careful risk assessment, these events happen. For this to happen on a very busy commuter route, which is also being proposed as the main route for Pennbury commuters, means the transport infrastructure plans by the Co-op, when they eventually publish them, must be scrutinised and validated very carefully. Bringing south-east Leicestershire to a complete standstill, because of some visionary eco-ideals without hard and fast facts to reduce congestion, is not an option.”