VIDEO: 20ft geyser soaks Blackburn street (From Lancashire Telegraph)

VIDEO: 20ft geyser soaks Blackburn street

1:55pm Monday 19th November 2012 in News By Bill Jacobs, Local government reporter

SHOPPERS on King Street, Blackburn, were surprised this morning when a 20 foot geyser erupted from road works in the pavement.

The gusher – the second to burst out in the town in less than a month – came as workmen searching for gas leak disturbed a water main outside the former Tile Shop.

Owner of the flooded premises Mohammed Amjid said: “It was a bit of a shock. It shot up more than 20 feet into the air above the buildings. It took them an hour to sort it out and it has done a lot of damage.

“I was hoping to open a furniture shop in two weeks time. I am going to have to delay opening while the damage is sorted out.”

Monika Papierak, manager of the nearby Al-Ameera Polish store said: “It was spectacular. I watched in on the CCTV camera. It not what you expect to happen on a Monday morning.”

On October 26th 50 Blackburn homes were left without water as engineers battled for more than three hours to tackle a 40 foot geyser from a damaged water main in Pinewood in Feniscowles.

A spokeswoman for National Grid said: “We had been working to locate a gas leak since Thursday and located it this morning. We were working to clear earth from the gas main and uncovered a water main part of which dislodged and the water blew out. We did not touch the water main. That should not have happened.”