Water restored to 100,000 homes in Glasgow after burst pipe

Repairs to the pipes and the road in Milngavie could take several days

Water has been restored to nearly 100,000 properties across Glasgow after a water main burst.

Children were evacuated from a nursery in East Dunbartonshire when the burst pipe caused a road to split open and nearby streets to flood.

Scottish Water said a 3ft (91cm) main ruptured in Milngavie, affecting the supplies in Glasgow.

Many pubs and restaurants were forced to close before supplies were restored late on Tuesday evening.

Areas affected included Glasgow city centre, Kelvinside, Tradeston, Ibrox, Knightswood, Yoker, Scotstoun and Partick.

The road surface at the junction between Auchenhowie Road and Glasgow Road in Milngavie, where the pipe had burst, was torn and buckled and a torrent of water was at one stage pouring down the street.

Police Scotland said Auchenhowie Road was closed at the roundabout junction with Boclair Road, Glasgow Road was shut at the roundabout junction with B8030 and the A81 was closed at Dougalston Avenue.

Rescue crews using dinghies were deployed to Milngavie as the children from the nearby nursery were evacuated.

Lullaby Lane nursery informed parents that the children had been safely taken to the nearby Rangers Training Centre.

Teams with dinghies were sent to help evacuate children from a nursery in Milngavie

In an update posted at 23:30 on Tuesday, Scottish Water said supply had been restored to all customers.

Teams from the water board were on site to assess the damaged pipe on Wednesday and were investigating "small pockets" of customers still without water.

A spokeswoman said: ""We would urge any customers in this area who still have no water to contact us so we can investigate.

"We sincerely apologise to all customers affected and we would like to thank everyone for their patience while we carry out these major repairs."

She added that some customers could experience discoloured water supply and advised those with brown water to run the cold kitchen tap at reduced pressure until it runs clear.

White water, caused by air in the water supply, would settle within two days, she said.

Kes Juskowiak, water operations manager at Scottish Water, said almost 250,000 customers had been affected.

"These pipes are Victorian, they are almost 140 years old," he told BBC Scotland's The Nine.

"They've done us very well over time. Occasionally they do burst and because of their size they do tend to cause a bit of devastation."

Mr Juskowiak said the cause of the leak was still unknown.

"We need to have a look and see if there's anything we can learn from what's happened here, see if there's anything we can do to prevent it going forward but nothing so far in terms of standing out why this happened," he said.

He predicted repairs on the pipes and the road in Milngavie would take several days.

"There might be a little bit of disruption for the community of Milngavie as we work through that, and also arrange any appropriate clean-up for anyone that's been affected by the flood water as well," he added.