HOUSEHOLDERS suffered thousands of pounds of damage when their homes were flooded after a water pipe burst in Southampton this morning.

Hundreds of gallons of water poured into part of Kent Road in St Denys and seeped into properties and gardens at about 4am.

Four houses were seriously affected. Residents woke to find water up to a foot deep on the ground floors of their homes.

Southern Water engineers spent most of the day repairing the damaged pipe and a section of the road was closed.

Electricity supplies were cut off during the morning as a precaution and some householders were forced to take the day off work to mop up.

Resident Sarah Lambert-Barnes, 36, whose ground floor was damaged, said: "I woke up and heard a gushing sound, which I thought at first was coming from my toilet.

"Then I came downstairs and saw all the water.

"I thought it must have been a burst main in my house at first but then I opened the front door and saw all the water that was in the road.

"It's ruined all my electrical things and furniture. A lot of water got into my car as well."

Southern Water loss adjusters visited the affected homes this morning to look at the damage.

A spokesman said: "As it was a main water pipe, we were alerted very quickly to the problem and were able to shut it off.

"Our loss adjusters went round to see residents that had been affected and our managers have been speaking to them as well."