Clean up continues after burst water pipe in Rochdale

Entwisle Road following the flooding after a water pipe burst

Recovery teams from United Utilities are helping residents with the clean up after the flooding at Entwisle Road.

Around 20 workers are on site pumping water from the ground floors and basements of the properties that were flooded after a water main burst on Tuesday. Damaged property is being removed and dehumidifiers will be used to help dry out the properties before repairs can begin and furnishings are replaced.

Claims advisors from the water company visited residents yesterday to assess the damage and at present six families have been given alternative hotel accommodation while the clean-up progresses.

Stuart Atkinson, regional water network manager at United Utilities, said: “We recognise what a horrible experience it is to find your home flooded like this and we’re doing everything we can to look after the residents affected and make sure they get their homes back to normal as quickly as possible.

“It’s likely to take weeks for everything to dry out and be repaired but we’ll make sure residents have everything they need in the meantime and they are not left out of pocket by the incident.

“We’re working closely with Rochdale Council and I’d like to thank their officers and councillors for their ongoing help and support.”

The water main on Entwisle Road burst at around 2.45pm on Tuesday, affecting water supplies to around 200 properties in the area. Engineers shut off the water main and re-routed supplies through an alternative water pipe, and water was restored by around 5.30pm. A second burst occurred on Whitworth Road at 6.30pm causing water to go off again until around 9.45pm when supplies were once again re-routed by engineers.

Stuart explained: “We believe the changes in pressure caused by the original burst and the switching of supplies is what caused the second burst to happen. These two water pipes do not have any history of problems and we’ve taken samples of the pipes for analysis to help us get to the root cause. The pipes are being repaired at present and the investigations will let us know if any additional refurbishment work is needed.”

Entwisle Road remains closed while repairs to the water main continue and there are temporary traffic lights on Whitworth Road.

Stuart added: “Customers in this part of Rochdale are now being supplied from Haweswater reservoir in the Lake District rather than the local reservoir Watergrove, but people should not notice any difference in water quality.”