Manchester flooding: Major incident after burst water main

Damage could be seen to the road surface near the University of Manchester

A large burst water main has caused serious flooding and closed two major roads in Manchester city centre.

Oxford Road is shut in both directions between Booth Street West and Grafton Street while nearby University of Manchester buildings were closed.

United Utilities (UU) declared a major incident but said water supplies had been restored in the area.

It said repairs to damage caused to Oxford Road "could take until the end of next week".

Lloyd Street North was also shut between Denmark Road and Burlington Street and local bus services were diverted.

United Utilities had isolated the burst water pipe by 09:00 BST

Oxford Road is closed in both directions due to the flooding

A UU spokesman said water supplies were fully restored on Wednesday morning and engineers hoped to fix the pipe by Thursday.

"We are in discussions with the council highways department about the wider repairs to the road," he added.

"We are planning to work extended hours, seven days a week, to get the damage repaired as quickly as possible so that the road can be reopened.

"At this stage we believe that could take until the end of next week."

UU said it was also providing support to the University of Manchester "so any flooded buildings can recover as soon as possible".

Six fire engines were sent to help remove floodwater

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said the burst water main had caused "a lot of localised flooding and damage to the road".

It said several buildings had been flooded and firefighters had worked to minimise damage and remove floodwater.

There is currently no impact on access to nearby hospitals.

Some road diversions were put in place

A large pool of water could be seen in front of some of the university's main buildings at the start of the new academic year.

A spokesman for the university said nine buildings had been closed because of the flooding, including the main library, students' union and Manchester Academy.

He said the majority of the sites had reopened except for the Samuel Alexander building which will be closed until at least Friday and the main library which was expected to reopen at 09:00 on Thursday.

Greater Manchester Police asked people to avoid the area and to use Upper Brook Street instead.

Stagecoach tweeted that buses would not be stopping outside the university and First Manchester cancelled several services.