AFTER being left high and dry during two days of water supply disruptions, residents of Chesterton were deluged when a burst pipe flooded the road.

A third water main burst in Springfield Road this morning, covering the road with one foot of water, but leaving many residents without a water supply to their homes for a third consecutive day.

Margaret Tanner, a pensioner from Springfield Road, said the road looked like a river. “When I woke up, I thought it was raining,” she said. “I looked out of the window and the road was covered by water. It was running down the road into the drains.”

She added: “The road is really treacherous. All the water has frozen to ice and it’s really slippery. I’m a bit worried about falling over.”

The four-inch water main burst in the early hours of the morning, interrupting supplies to 35 properties in Springfield Road. A team from Thames Water is currently trying to fix the problem.

Prasad Makkena, an employee of Chesterton Stores in Springfield Road, said residents were buying emergency supplies. “So many people have been in to buy bottled water,” he said. “There was no water again this morning, so people are getting worried.”

Local resident Graham Holloway said there was water all over the road. “I went out at about 7.30am and I saw the water gushing down the road,” he said. “It wasn’t just a small leak, it was spraying out of the drains like a fountain.”

He added: “It’s not very funny. It’s the little things you don’t think about, like not being able to flush the loo. There has been no indication of when it will come back on, so we’re just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it will come back on as soon as possible.”

Cirencester town councillor Roly Hughes said the flooding at the junction between Springfield Road and Brook Road had caused disruption to traffic. “It’s caused traffic mayhem, it’s like a river there,” he said.

A spokesman from Thames Water confirmed a 10-inch-wide pipe burst on Tuesday, causing problems with the water supply in Chesterton. The disruption occurred between 2.30pm and 1am the following morning and affected about 2,000 people.

The company received a further 260 calls yesterday, after a 16-inch-wide water pipe burst next to Cirencester Park, causing disruptions to the water supply between 10am and 3pm and forcing primary schools in Chesterton and Siddington to close.

He added: “We are very sorry for the problems this is causing and we are grateful to people of Cirencester for their patience in waiting for the problem to be resolved. These broken pipes are a direct result of the recent plummeting temperatures.”