AN Ipswich road is likely to be closed for up to a week after a water main burst, pumping hundreds of gallons of water into the streets.The incident happened shortly before 1pm yesterday in Princes Street, ripping a 20-metre hole in the concrete and causing a flood of water to spill out in front of traffic.

AN Ipswich road is likely to be closed for up to a week after a water main burst, pumping hundreds of gallons of water into the streets.

The incident happened shortly before 1pm yesterday in Princes Street, ripping a 20-metre hole in the concrete and causing a flood of water to spill out in front of traffic.

Anglian Water closed a section of the road and deployed an emergency team of contractors to the scene.

They were able to quickly isolate the area of the burst and stop the flow of water however the company has said it could take up to a week to carry out all the repairs necessary.

Few households or businesses are believed to have been left without water due to the incident.

A spokesman for Anglian Water said: "It's a fairly major burst. At the moment, as far as we are aware, we have isolated the burst and shut the main off completely.

"That will allow the pressure in the rest of the system to go back up which means most people should be on normal services or just slightly lower pressure.

"We have had few calls from customers saying they have no water.

"We're looking at a road closure for about a week as it's a fairly sizeable burst. There is a 20-metre hole where the burst happened."

The section of the road affected is between the fire station and Royal Mail sorting office, and is only open to buses and taxis. Anglian Water was believed to be contacting Ipswich Borough Council yesterday so they could put diversions in place.

The spokesman said the burst could have been due to the recent heavy rainfall.