Residents called the fire service after water flooded a property on Coppice Lane
Severn Trent has apologised to residents of a Leicestershire village after 50 properties were flooded by a burst water main.
Some villagers in Queniborough claimed the water company took "an age" to turn the water off on Monday.
However, Severn Trent said they acted as soon as they learned about the problem.
The company's loss adjusters have visited affected homes.
'Might have been avoided'
The 15in (38cm) pipe burst at about 15:30 BST on Main Street, damaging the road's surface.
Experts believe the pipe burst because of changes in the weather.
Barry Kimber, who works in the local post office, said: "It just seemed to take an age to turn the water off.
"I phoned the police an hour-and-a-half after it happened to say nobody has actually attended yet.
"I think a lot of the flooding might have been avoided if they had managed to turn the water off sooner.
Severn Trent said it was working on the burst pipe remotely before engineers arrived at the scene.
The firm said it received a call just before 16:00 BST.
It added they had worked through the night and the damaged pipe was now repaired.
- Published4 June 2013
