Water firm urges people to avoid area after floods

Severn Trent is advising people to avoid part of Sparkhill affected by the burst pipe

A water company is advising people to continuing avoiding a part of Birmingham flooded after a major pipe burst.

Schools, homes, places of worship and businesses were affected after a 28 inch (71cm) pipe burst before 06:00 BST in Sparkhill, leaving communities without water or reduced pressure.

Stratford Road in Sparkhill partially reopened to traffic late on Friday night, West Midlands Fire Service said, after standing water was removed.

However, Severn Trent Water said on Saturday: "We would urge people to find alternative routes if possible."

A water provider spokesperson said all customers' supplies were back on after teams worked through the night, but apologised for the ongoing impact.

Bottled water had been distributed to affected households and the priority was to "carry out repairs as quickly and safely as possible", they added.

The water provider also thanked residents and business owners for their patience.

"We'd like to say a big thank you to the local community who have been incredibly understanding and welcoming and have looked after our teams and those from West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council, serving food and chai to crews during this complicated operation," they added.

The burst impacted residents and businesses in 12 postcode areas, including as far away as Solihull.

Stratford Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham was under water

West Midlands Fire Service said in a post on X its crews left the scene about 11:45 BST on Friday after engineers "significantly reduced water flow from the burst main".

"Thank you to the community for their understanding while we worked at this incident," the service added.

It added on its website crews had removed "a significant amount of standing water from the road", allowing Severn Trent to sweep and reopen one side of Stratford Road".

Temporary traffic lights are in place to control the flow of traffic at the scene while repairs are carried out to the pipe and road.

Sparkhill councillor Nicky Brennan said residents in the area told her their water came back on between 20:00 and 11:00 BST on Friday.