A TORRENT of water from a huge burst pipe which roared down a Shipley street and causing homes to be evacuated, traffic chaos and wrecked internet and telephone connections in the town and beyond.

Yorkshire Water workers are still carrying out a clean-up operation with several gardens in Lynton Drive left covered with silt and debris.

The water main at the top of Lynton Drive ruptured at about 3.30pm on Wednesday and sent a huge flood including stones and debris down the road and onto the A650 below.

It then flooded a BT telecommunication base, closing down phone and internet connections for several hours in Shipley and Baildon.

That also briefly prevented late night shoppers in Shipley ASDA from paying with cards until engineers solved the problem.

A spokesman last night said the disruption had been caused by a burst to a 13-inch main in the area.

"There is a lot of water on the road, and we are working with police and fire crews to safely evacuate those affected from their homes," he said.

"At this stage, we are unsure how many people have been affected or how long it will take to fix the problem."

Yorkshire Water engineers were at the scene last night, alongside emergency services including fire and police.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise to any customers affected by the severe water main burst on Lynton Drive in Shipley last night. We worked quickly and closely with emergency services immediately after the incident to evacuate any customers affected and managed to isolate the burst, preventing the escape of any more water. 

"Colleagues from Yorkshire Water and our contract partner then completed door to door visits with all impacted customers in the immediate vicinity of the incident, offering sandbags as required. We also offered to re-home any customers in need of relocation and arranged for emergency electrical work to be completed. 

"Today the focus has been on continuing to assist any customers in need of our assistance, clearing up at the scene of the burst and working with a structural engineer to assess the condition of structures in the area."

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