RESIDENTS recovering from a New Year's Day sewage flood have had their homes hit again.

For the second time cottages in Alresford have been swamped by up to ten inches of dirty water sweeping in from a nearby treatment plant.

On Monday, a broken pipe was responsible for ruining carpets and books, but no sooner had life begun to return to normal than disaster struck again yesterday morning.

Southern Water says that an electrical fault was to blame for the failure of the pumping station in The Dean at 6.55am.

Some residents are now considering an offer from the company to put them up in a hotel while the mess is cleared up and the damaged assessed.

In addition Southern Water has agreed to pay each household the equivalent of their annual sewer rate charge for each problem.

Winn Stowell, 85, said: "My husband Arthur and I are not very happy having a disruption to our lives but it is one of those things that you just get on with.

"We have been very unfortunate with this and it is not very nice at all.

"Southern Water have offered us compensation although no actual amount and we have informed our insurance company."

Wendy Harris, 61, found five inches of water in her living room.

She said: "I am relieved that it happened while everything was still wet and had not dried out.

"The company are going to have to do something so that this sort of thing does not affect our cottages.

"There could be another burst pipe tomorrow, you just never know."

Neville James, Hampshire waste water manager, said: "I am going to make sure there is a thorough investigation.

"Monday's failure and then this one are totally unrelated. The Dean has never been a problem before and now we have two in four days. These are very unusual circumstances. It is an amazing coincidence, sod's law.

"Customers are unhappy with Southern Water and we are trying to settle them down. We have again offered to put them up in a hotel while their homes are cleaned.

"We regret the incidents and are doing all we can to resolve it as quickly as possible."