One home was flooded for the second time within a year and 75 left without water when a water main burst in Southminster.
The drama began in the early hours of Sunday in Queen Street, when the Faulks family were awoken by a passer-by who reported their home was being flooded.
Sharon and Bruce Faulks alerted the fire service who arrived armed with sandbags - but the damage, which could amount to thousands of pounds, had already been done.
The family's new drive became a mudbath and water seeped through the house and garage into the back garden.
It was the second time within 12 months that the Faulks' had suffered flooding - the burst this time reportedly just inches from last year's fracture.
Mrs Faulks said: "We had a computer and tools in the garage which are ruined, the drive is beyond repair and the house smells."
The flooding eventually eased when the water was turned off nearly three hours later, at about 7.45am.
Neighbours on one side of the Faulks' house required sandbags, but Essex and Suffolk Water said no other property suffered damage.
A spokeswoman for Essex and Suffolk Water said: "This is not unusual. It is a cast iron main and it can go in very dry hot weather and in cold weather."
Published Thursday August 5, 2004
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