A BURST water main closed the A4136 near Dunks Corner and gave pupils at Steam Mills Primary School an unexpected day off on Monday (November 28), while fire fighters had to pump water from two nearby homes in the early hours of the morning.

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said: “A broken valve was causing all the trouble. The fire service was called at 1.27am, arriving on site eight minutes later. They diverted the water away from the school and neighbouring properties and pumped out two homes which had been flooded. They stayed on scene for over three hours dealing with the situation.

“The school buildings are fine, but the playground was covered in silt, which meant the school had to be closed while this was cleared.”

 A Severn Trent spokesperson added: “Our teams have repaired a damaged section of water pipe in Steam Mills and we’ve now reopened the road, but with traffic lights on it while we get the A4136 back to normal.

“The good news is that customers have been unaffected but we’d like to apologise to road users who’ve been diverted as a result of the burst.”