Updated: Burst water main in Shoebury closes road (From Echo)

Updated: Burst water main in Shoebury closes road

7:50am Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

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DRIVERS faced long delays after a water main burst and closed a main road yesterday.

Cars were diverted after large sections of North Shoebury Road were broken up by water forcing its way to the surface and part of the roundabout was submerged.

The road was closed in both directions for most of the day yesterday while engineers from Essex and Suffolk Water worked to repairing the leak.

Brian Vincent, 51, of the Mallards, Shoebury, was driving home when he saw the damage.

He said: “It looks like a little earthquake happened. There must have been some real pressure there.

“We were all crawling in traffic, we were held up, coming over the railway bridge.”

The 12-inch pipe burst on North Shoebury Road between the Angel pub and Bridge Garage at about 1.40pm yesterday.

Ted Lester, 72, of Elm Road, Shoebury, was also caught up in the traffic.

He said: “It’s been hell down this way.

“I needed to go into Thorpe Bay this afternoon.

“There was a tailback to Maplin Way and it caused chaos. There was a long queue of traffic up the road.”

Sarah Bowerman, spokesman for Essex and Suffolk Water, said: “Because of to the damage on the road, it’s likely to be shut for several hours while it is repaired, but obviously, as soon as we can open it we will open it.”

Crews from Essex and Suffolk Water worked on the road through Tuesday night but they have said that the road is not expected to open until early tomorrow morning.

Sarah Pinkerton, spokeswoman for Essex and Suffolk Water, said: “We appreciate the inconvenience caused and thank motorists for their patience."