An elderly woman was woken up by icy water flooding her flat – as sub-zero temperatures continue to cause water pipe woes across Bradford district.

Firefighters were called to Greenbank Court sheltered housing complex in Milner Road, Baildon, after water gushing through the roof of the ground-floor flat caused by a burst pipe triggered a fire alarm.

The woman, in her 80s, was evacuated and social housing provider Incommunities found alternative accommodation for her.

Yorkshire Water has said it has received the highest number of emergency calls this week since the devastating floods of 2007.

Elsewhere, residents at a housing complex have been left without water since Friday.

An underground water main pipe froze at the flats in Brunel Gardens, Little Horton, Bradford, cutting off supply to 28 homes. Two flats were still without water yesterday but neighbours were rallying round, said landlord Yorkshire Housing. Geoff Hill, the firm’s gas manager, said: “We would like to thank the neighbours of the tenants at Brunel Gardens who have shown great community spirit by ensuring that the two affected homes have access to hot and cold water and are comfortable.”

Yorkshire Water spokesman Matt Thompson said: “We took 10,000 calls on Tuesday, which is nigh-on a record. It was a serious number of calls but we doubled up call centre staff at Thornbury in Bradford to deal with demand. Some of them came in when they were supposed to be on holiday just to take the high volume of calls.”

Indoor market traders have been feeling the cold too. Workers at Kirkgate Market, adjoining Kirkgate Shopping Centre, in Bradford, are being told to bring their own heaters by Bradford Council while engineers try to repair its faulty heating system.

Only two of the five heaters are working and traders are wrapping up in extra layers to stay warm.

Some shop owners huddled in front of portable electric heaters at their tills yesterday and many complained it was proving bad for business.

A Council spokesman said three heating units had developed faults on Wednesday, leaving certain areas inside the market particularly cold. “Unfortunately only two out of the five heating units for Kirkgate Market are working and three have developed a fault,” the spokesman said. “Our engineers are working on the problem.

“If a tenant is particularly cold they can bring in their own heaters.”

Laura Davey, manager of The Corner Cafe, said: “It’s not good when you have got customers who come and sit down and we have had a few people come and complain.”