Moonshine Lane Sheffield: Homes flooded and schools closed, as video shows extent of burst water main

Firefighters and police remained at the scene of the incident on Moonshine Lane in Southey Green, Sheffield, this afternoon, with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue having advised people to ‘avoid the area’. A number of homes have been flooded, many more have been left without running water or with low water pressure, and The Star is aware of two schools which have been forced to close today.

E-ACT Pathways Academy on Raisen Hall Road said this afternoon that it was closing to all pupils ‘due to water issues in the area’ and asked parents to collect their children as soon as possible. Southey Green Primary School and Nurseries also confirmed that it had been forced to shut.

Dawn Hayes, who lives on Raisen Hall Road, said her back garden was ‘like a swimming pool’ and she knew of people living nearby whose homes had been flooded. She said she first became aware of the burst water main after dropping her child off at school. “I had to walk 20 minutes out of my way to get home and I still ended up wading through the water,” she added. She told how she still had running water for now but her daughter who lives near Longley said her tap water had turned brown. A video shared by Jade Brook shows the extent of the flooding.

Yorkshire Water has said customers in the S5/S9/S6/S35 postcode areas may have been left with no water or low pressure due to the burst. It has not said how many properties are thought to be affected but a spokeswoman said it was working ‘as quickly as possible’ to fix the issue.

In an update issued at 1.30pm, Yorkshire Water said: “Our operational team have made changes to our network, so that customers’ water supply should now be back on or be coming back on shortly. We've turned off the section of pipe that's burst so flood water in the area is subsiding. Our partner, Service Master, is there helping to resolve any issues caused by flooding.”

Yorkshire Water has advised customers that when water supplies are restored, their water may initially be cloudy or discoloured but they should be able to clear this by running their tap for a few minutes.