POLICE boats had to rescue sleepy families from their homes after a burst water main flooded an Essex street.

Residents called the emergency services at 6.30am on Tuesday to report water gushing from a drain in East Bridge Road, South Woodham Ferrers.

Amy Tinham, a 33-year-old office worker, said: "I think I must have been the first one to ring the water company because they said, 'oh, we noticed the East Hanningfield reservoir was going down but we didn't know why'.

"It's been an absolute nightmare. The garden and downstairs are completely waterlogged. We've only lived in the house for six months and the garden was one of the things we'd gotten really nice."

A dozen people were evacuated from their homes as icy water up to two-and-half feet deep seeped into properties and cars. More than 60 homes were affected.

Steph Crabb, 26, said: "I just can't believe it. I feel so gutted. We're going to stay with my mother-in-law. Our part of the street, because it's in a dip, was the worst hit. We've all had to take days off from work. My husband works in insurance, which is ironic."

Neighbour Lynne Penbrock said: "I don't even have wellies. I had to wade around in black bin liners. If it hadn't been for Steph coming and knocking on my front door I would have been in bed for another hour and more things would have been ruined.

"We only had our kitchen done a few years ago and its all ruined, washing machine, wooden floors, everything.

"I've had to keep my two little dogs upstairs because they would have drowned if I'd let them down.

"I just don't know what we're going to do."

Neighbour Pam Foley said: "When I saw the water I originally thought it was all the snow melting.

"I called my husband Mick who was out looking after his mother and he said the snow couldn't be doing that.

"Once we realised it was the water main that burst I just couldn't believe it. There was just so much water, it just kept running into the house.

"I work in the garage and remembered I had loads of fabric on the floor so I went and tried to salvage that but the whole downstairs is completely ruined."

Lyal Goodrick, a 50-year-old IT worker, said: "I've lived on the street for 25 years. My house was one of the worst-hit. I just couldn't believe what was happening."

Sarah Pinkerton, of Essex and Suffolk Water, said: "What we want to make very clear is that this incident is very rare.

"The last time something like this happened was over 30 years ago. This does not make it any less awful for the people of South Woodham but we don't want other residents to worry.

"After realising our reservoir was going down it took a little while to pinpoint exactly where the water was running to, but as soon as calls came in pinpointing the location our team got down there extremely quickly."