Residents have spoken of their shock after a damaged water pipe led to a "huge river" flooding homes and roads in Beeston. Severn Trent said one of its pipes was "damaged by a third party" near High Road early on Tuesday afternoon (March 7), which led to water bursting out and stones being thrown.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed ten properties had been flooded and the majority of these had also been evacuated. Those forced to leave their properties gathered at a local church - while other residents tried to create makeshift barriers to stop the water from spreading.
Retired Malcolm Woodhead, 68, lives on Audon Avenue and assisted neighbours closer to the incident by bailing water and helping to construct makeshift barriers. He said: “I only saw it when I was sent a video.
Test yourself here and see how many places in Nottingham you can recognise from a bird's eye view
"Everybody is doing whatever they can to help and keep water out of people's homes. I’m lucky because I live down the other end.
“It’s like a huge river - the last time it was like this was during the rain storm a year or so ago.” Daithi McGroaty, 70, of College Road, lives close to the incident but felt he was “one of the lucky ones".
Daithi said: “My home is fine thankfully, all that I get is the mist of the water and a soaked washing line. It’s really horrible the amount of damage it has done - the amount of water and the speed of it is incredible.”
Steve Wallace, 56, who also lives on Audon Avenue, said the water was not yet inside his home but it would be soon. Steve explained: "It’s not inside but it’s nearly there already.
"It’s one of those things. We had flooding during the rain storm a year or so ago but it was not as bad as this. I’ve never seen anything like it in 22 years - I’ve had to close my personal training gym so no customers today.”
Speaking on the incident, retired Steve Barton, of Lime Grove, said: "It was about one o'clock out in the garden and I was aware of a mist which was quite bizarre as it has been a fine day. I also heard a whooshing sound and went out to investigate and I could see a plume of water, which was 50 to 100m. I don't know from here, but it was a lot.
"I could also hear a clattering. When the fire services eventually came they said it had actually been chucking out stones so I think that was the noise I heard."
High Road has been closed for most of the day and other roads in the area have also been affected, such as Queens Road West. Public transport providers, such as NET Tram, trentbarton and Nottingham City Transport have had to cancel or divert services.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and Nottinghamshire Police attended the incident to provide support along with Severn Trent. A Severn Trent spokesperson said: "A third party has caused damage to one of our larger pipes as they were working on a building site in Beeston. Our teams are continuing to work in the area to minimise disruption.
"Customer water supplies are currently not affected, and we're working on the network to help keep supplies on during the repair, as well as bringing tankers to the area. We're working with the local authorities and services, and we will be supporting and contacting anyone that has been affected by the damaged pipe.
"It will be our priority to get everything back to normal as quickly, and safely as possible." Severn Trent has not identified the third party which it said caused the damage.
READ NEXT:
