Residents praised for pulling together in 'fantastic show of community spirit' after burst water main causes flooding in Burnley's Sycamore Avenue
Residents have been praised for pulling together after a burst water main caused major flooding in a busy Burnley road last night.
Jane Hale and her son Alfie (15), who live yards away from the flood in Sycamore Avenue, were among several people who turned out to help as the water rose to three or four feet deep and around 2,000 homes were left without water.
Jane said: “As always, people turned out to help in any way they could, everyone really pulled together in a fantastic show of community spirit.
“People were contacting neighbours who weren’t in to let them know what had happened and one lady on her way home arrived with loads of bottles of water for those who needed it.”
Jane was alerted by a message from a friend as she arrived home at around 6.30pm, and it was Alfie who sprang into action. Jane added: “We weren’t aware what was happening until we received the message. We went outside and it was Alfie who said we need to stop cars from driving down to avoid an accident or cars getting stuck. He did a great job and was there for three hours.”
Along with another resident, Andy Lee, the trio formed a barricade, using bollards left over from nearby building works, to prevent cars from entering Sycamore Avenue until teams from United Utilities arrived on site. Jane said: “As workmen arrived they were thanking Alfie and telling him he had done a great job.”
United Utilities are today continuing to work to repair the burst pipe and the road is closed to enable the work to be carried out safely. There is a diversion route in place, which people are advised to follow. Teams worked through the night and water was restored to the homes affected within hours. Burnley MP Oliver Ryan, who was also at the scene last night, said he was happy with the response from United Utilities.
A spokesman for United Utilities said: “We have a team on site today and they are working closely with Burnley Council to remove some street furniture so we can safely carry out further works to the pipe. Fortunately, the flood did not impact any properties. We want to apologise to customers impacted by the loss of water, and we thank them for their patience.”