Burst water pipe floods homes and gardens

A number of homes and gardens in Barnsley have been flooded after a water pipe burst.

Athersley and New Lodge councillor Jayne Hulme estimated 20 properties in Wakefield Road had been affected in the incident on Saturday morning.

Pictures from the scene show wheelie bins being washed down the road and water flooding into gardens, with fences and home furniture damaged.

Yorkshire Water said it had attended the burst "as quickly as possible" and has apologised to those affected.

Lisa Daniels, who lives on Wakefield Road, said the water main burst at about 05:00 BST and initially stopped at a boundary wall before it later gave way.

"It was absolutely horrendous," she said.

Daniels, 58, said she had "lost two cars" to the flooding.

"The garden is absolutely ruined," she added.

"The driveway is absolutely ruined."

Hulme said the water "sent bricks smashing windows in cars", adding: "It's even lifted two garages off the foundations."

She said one resident told her he had lost £20,000 worth of fish from his garden, while another returned to her home to find £14,000 worth of fish dead due to contaminated water.

Some people have criticised what they perceive to have been a slow response from Yorkshire Water.

They claim the company was alerted to the issue at about 05:00, but did not arrive on the scene until after 09:00, with the water pipe remaining operational until the wall gave way, worsening the damage.

"I'm angry. I'm upset," said Daniels.

"Absolutely devastated. Not one person from Yorkshire Water has been to see us.

"When the water got turned off, they brought two bottles of water per house. What good is two bottles of water? We didn't get the water back on while 7pm at night."

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said the first call it received about this incident came at 06:20 and staff were on site at 09:01.

They added: "Our team attended the burst as quickly as possible and were able to locate the damaged main and complete a repair.

"Our customer response team made two separate bottled water drop-offs at 19 properties that lost supply, beginning with customers on the priority services register.

"We also had two dedicated customer service representatives on site and our specialist cleaning contractor, Service Master, were also deployed to assist with the clean-up.

"We understand incidents of this nature are distressing for customers and apologise for the inconvenience caused. We will be working with the customers impacted to assist them in rectifying any damage caused."

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