A burst water main forced a road to close for the third time in less than a year.

Emergency repairs are taking place on the A28 Ashford Road in Chilham between Branch Road and The Street following the leak earlier this afternoon.

The incident began at about 2pm and the road remains partially blocked this evening.

A number of homes in the area are experiencing low water pressure, with some experiencing a total outage earlier in the day.

In an update just before 4pm, South East Water said: “We're currently working to fix a burst water main, but we have managed to re-route some of the water in our network which means customers should have their supplies returned.

“As soon as the repairs have been completed, your water will return to normal.

“We can't say just yet how long this will take but please rest assured we're doing everything we can to get you back up and running as soon as possible.”

The road was entirely closed for part of the day, with traffic heading home in the evening rush hour forced to divert.

Traffic had been forced to head to Challock and divert back along either the A251 through Boughton Aluph towards Ashford or the A252 to Chilham and rejoin the A28.

The water company has been approached for more information.

It is not the first time the road has been impacted – last April it was shut for several days for a burst pipe to be fixed.

It then had to be shut again days later for more repairs after the first fix created a large lump in a 50mph zone.

Another section of the road had to shut again in October.