NEIGHBOURS in Lostock have described how they battled against a "river" of water flowing through their homes after a suspected burst water mains.

A torrent of water flowed down St Andrews Road and Links Drive at about 6.30am this morning as homeowners desperately tried to keep the water at bay.

At least five homes were flooded with close to a foot of water rising in their gardens.

Shellie Raja, a resident in Links Drive, said: "There was too much water. Whatever we did it was just the pure volume of it. I noticed it at about 8.30am when everyone started panicking. We tried everything to stop the water but whatever we did it didn't matter."

Engineers from United Utilities arrived on the scene at St Andrews Road at 10.20am.

But by that time the flooding had spread to Regent Road and some have criticised the utility company for not acting fast enough.

Some neighbours said when they first called to report the flooding they were told engineers would be available "in a day or two".

Sonya Mills whose garage was left flooded along with her furniture said: "I had four calls with them and they said someone was on the scene but when we went to look they weren't there, it took four hours for them to come.

"It looked like a river, there was a river flowing down the front path straight into the garage."

Andy Clare added: "I got a message at 9am this morning from my daughter saying I'd better get home as soon as possible because the back garden had turned into a river."

 

The flooding also left several golfers disappointed as they arrived at the Regent Park Golf Course as some decided to brave the slow drive through the flood.

Jacob Greenhalgh, who works at the club, said: "It's flooded all down the main road all the way down to St Andrews. One of the houses on the corner is underwater."

A spokesman for United Utilities said engineers had been on site early this morning to shut the water off and would be working with neighbours to help clean up.

They added the first report of the burst 30cm pipe, which feeds into a service reservour, had come in at 7.20am.