A lane closure will be in place for up to four days to fix, after a burst water main caused chaos.

Thorpe Hall Avenue, Shoebury will be partly closed after the pipe burst in Bournes Green Chase this morning.

An Essex and Suffolk Water spokesperson said: “We were made aware of a burst on a large water pipe near Bournes Green roundabout at 5.45am this morning, which was affecting water supplies in the Southend-on-Sea area.

“We immediately attended, stopped the burst and moved water around the network so that we could restore supplies for our customers.

“Water was restored to most customers by 9.00am and by 10.00am all of our customers were back on supply.

“We are now working on repairing the pipe and the road surface which was damaged by the burst, and a temporary lane closure is in place on Thorpe Hall Avenue for safety reasons while we do this.

“We anticipate this being in place for the next four days until Friday 31 January. If this changes, we will let people know via Twitter on @eswater_care.

“We wholeheartedly apologise for the inconvenience this has caused to customers in the affected area and thank them for their patience and understanding.”