RESIDENTS in Alresford had a terrible start to the new year when a burst pipe left their houses flooded with sewage.

Three homes had to be evacuated in The Dean yesterday morning after a Southern Water main fractured. A fourth affected home was unoccupied.

Workman from the company yesterday fixed the pipe. The firm has pledged to pay for the clean-up operation.

A Southern Water spokesman said today: "It was the sheer volume of water that caused the problem. A ten-inch pipe burst and that is a large pipe.

"The pipe has now been fixed. We started yesterday and were expecting it to be complete by 4pm yesterday. Our staff were there immediately and we have done as much as we can.

"We are generally having problems with burst mains because of the pressure of water and the recent freezing weather adds to the problem."

The company has offered to pay for the victims to stay in hotels while their homes are cleaned. The spokesman said: "We have made the offer but none has so far taken it up."

Today, Arthur Stowell, 82, was clearing up his living room where carpets and books have been ruined.

He told the Daily Echo: "When the mains burst the nearby station carried on pumping and the sewage ran through my garden and then through my house. It was shocking.

"I got up at 7am yesterday and went downstairs and then I was standing in four to five inches of dirty water. Winn, my wife, and I are both over 80 and we are not really feeling like coping with it."

The Alresford area has recently been one of the worst affected by the recent floods caused by heavy rainfall. In Old Alresford the rising water table forced two houses in Kiln Lane to be abandoned after a foot of water penetrated the ground floor.

One of the properties affected was an almshouse and Winchester City Council has rehoused the elderly couple who lived there.