Homes cut off as main breaks

ALTHOUGH many roads and fields around Tiverton were flooded after last week's heavy rain, one of the biggest problems in the town was a lack of water.

Around 250 homes and the town's hospital were left with no mains supply on Thursday evening. It is thought a landslip was responsible for damaging an underground pipe.

South West Water put in place a bowser at Tiverton Hospital because the supply there had been affected.

Engineers worked overnight and water supplies were restored to the town by Friday morning, and the water was soon running clear, but South West Water sent out a bowser to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

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Emma Gunn, a teacher at St John's Roman Catholic School, lives in Cottybrook.

"My son went to take a shower on Thursday evening and it just came out in a trickle," she said.

"We then realised other houses in the street were affected too.

"Fortunately a nice neighbour was going to Tesco and they bought us some bottled water and the water was back on on Friday."

An email from hospital matron Edith Breeze was sent to Tiverton Hospital staff just after 11am on Friday.

It said water from heaters was boiled and could be used for making hot drinks but they still did not recommend drinking cold tap water.

A spokeswoman for South West Water said: "There was a burst water main reported to us at 4.30pm on Thursday. We repaired it overnight.

"We deployed a bowser as a precaution to the hospital and this was refilled overnight.

"While water is coming back on we would advise people to let it run clear before it is drunk.

"Burst mains can be caused by a number of things but ground movement caused by all the heavy rain we've had is the most likely explanation."