A FAMILY were shocked to find their garden engulfed by a huge hole after a water mains burst on Thursday night.

Thirteen-year-old Jasmine Hancock discovered the gaping hole when she returned from school, and found a river flowing where the road should have been.

The hole was created after a two-foot-wide pipe at the end of Bullfinch Close in Covingham burst.

Despite the water gushing from the burst pipe, their house was not flooded but the garden was turned into a muddy swamp, and many homes in Eldene reported they were left without water.

Jasmine said: “I was walking down the street and could just see lots of water.

“I thought at first there was flooding coming from the house but then I could see the hole in the road.

“Outside the house there was a lot of water and mud, with the water coming up to the step of the house.”

Thames Water reacted quickly to the incident and worked through the night to address the problem, Workers were still there yesterday evening.

Jasmine’s mum, Julie, said: “They have been digging all through the night, which has made it very difficult for any of us to sleep.

“But it is just one of those things that happens and you can’t really do much about it.

“We were very lucky that the water didn’t flood the house or that someone wasn’t walking past at the time.”

A time scale for how long it will take for the work to be completed has not be given, but Thames Water has said it will help the families affected with getting their gardens back in shape.

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: “We dealt with a burst on a two-foot-wide pipe near Dorcan Way in Swindon.

“Repairs took place away from the road so there was minimal impact on the traffic but there was some external flooding to properties in the area – for which we are very sorry.

“We’ll be working with any customers who have been flooded to get their homes back to normal as soon as possible."”