A HUGE area of Blackburn was plunged into chaos today after an 18 inch water main burst.

Roads and pavements were transformed into a moonscape by the force of the floods which threatened to engulf houses, caused traffic chaos and overflowed into Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

The Malins family who live yards from the burst at the junction of Southworth Street and Pritchard Street, Blackburn, were woken at 4am by police.

Mrs Malins, 24, who has a son, Thomas, three, said: "At one point you couldn't see the pavement. The water was about two or three inches above our door step.

"We took sheets off the bed to block the door until the council came round with sand bags. We haven't slept a wink."

David Malins, 26, added: "It makes you sick when you think that North West Water have just spent all that money buying Norweb.

"There are all these restrictions and yet thousands and thousands of gallons have flooded away. The huge amounts they pay their directors would be better spent preventing things like this." Water dispersed down Southworth Street into Infirmary Road and into the main out-patients department at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

Director Of Operations John Dell said: "We were alerted to the problem at 5.45am and have had people clearing it ever since. At this stage it does not appear we will have to turn patients away, we will have to redirect them."

Mr Dell said 50 per cent of the out-patients waiting room and four consulting rooms had been put out of action.

Police were despatched to the area to alert sleeping residents and cordon off roads.

Local angling shop owner, Geoff Done even supplied some officers with waders.

At one point the water reached one and a half feet under the canal bridge on Bolton Road after dispersing down Infirmary Road.

Bus services were thrown into chaos and Blackburn Transport's Rick Wilson arrived to redirect pupils waiting to travel to Queen's Park High School.

North West Water's Ribble works manager David Nicholas said supplies had been re-zoned to prevent cuts.

He said: "We have a gang out there at the scene who will replace the main. An 18in trunk main is one of the biggest, so a substantial amount of water would have been lost."

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