A BENTLEY granddad who woke up to discover his home had been flooded has today said it will be months before his house is back to normal.David Howe, who lives in Bergholt Road with his wife, Veronica, said some of his neighbours were living in hotels after three burst water mains caused havoc in their street.

A BENTLEY granddad who woke up to discover his home had been flooded has today said it will be months before his house is back to normal.

David Howe, who lives in Bergholt Road with his wife, Veronica, said some of his neighbours were living in hotels after three burst water mains caused havoc in their street.

Mr Howe, 67, even had to rescue his goldfish which were floating on the patio and return them to his pond, and is now facing a massive clear-up job after the water swept through his house.

He said: “It has affected lots of people and some of them have got to move out for three months.

“We had one or two inches and the carpets are ruined as well as the three-piece-suite, but we are able to live upstairs in the loft conversion.

“Anything that was touching the floor was ruined - it was a dreadful mess, we came downstairs and were walking on water.

“It is awful; it is a lot of stress and a nasty experience.”

Mr Howe, a retired engineer instructor, who has two children and four grandchildren, said thankfully the home he had lived in for 13 years was insured so he and his wife, 62, would not lose out financially despite the clear-up work probably costing thousands of pounds.

The damage happened after three water mains burst in Capel Road, near Mr Howe's home.

One water main burst at 3.30am on Thursday, affecting the water supply of about 70 properties. It is believed this was caused by natural ground movement, which led to a second main bursting in Church Road at about 5.15am.

Then at around 10pm the water main in Capel Road burst again as the first incident had made parts of the pipe vulnerable.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “Our loss adjustor should already have been in contact with the customer to start the insurance process.

“We apologise to Mr Howe for the inconvenience and hope that his case can be resolved quickly. We cannot prevent water mains from occasionally bursting as they are susceptible to ground movement.

“However we endeavour to respond as quickly as possible to minimise the impact.”

Were you affected by the burst water mains? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.