The main route into a village will be closed until the end of the week as Storm Gareth delays road repairs.

Ratcliffe Highway, in Allhallows was closed from Wednesday, March 6 as Southern Water engineers fixed multiple leaks in a water pipe.

Emergency water supplies had to be delivered to the villagers, after the burst pipe left them without water for over 24 hours.

Parish Council clerk Chris Fribbins said: "Every time the engineers fixed a pipe another one burst.

"It was like a river running down Ratcliffe Highway.

"I went down to run the Youth Club but we had to cancel because there was no water to flush the toilet.

"People have had to make other arrangements and go to their friends' houses to shower."

Southern Water engineers were at the scene by around 2pm on Wednesday, March 6 for two days and had to close Ratcliffe Highway.

The company had to distribute hundreds of bottles of water from the village hall, Binney Road, to the affected residents.

Limited water supply returned by around 3pm on Friday, March 8, initially water was very cloudy and the pressure was low but it returned to normal within a few hours.

Ratcliffe Highway was closed for road surface repairs.

Mr Fribbins said: "Ratcliffe Highway is still closed, I don't think it will reopen until the end of the week.

"It's the main route in and out of the village so it is causing quite a few problems.

"People are having to go round Stoke or through little country roads and the buses are being diverted which is causing delays.

"What's worse is that I've not seen any engineers working on the road since last week."

An Arriva spokesperson said: "We can confirm that the 191 route that serves Allhallows has been diverted as a result of road maintenance on Ratcliffe Highway.

"This means that due to the issues outside of our control, the route is currently having to operate via Stoke, regrettably leaving passengers in St Marys Hoo with limited services.

"The roadworks are currently causing delays of up to 20 minutes at peak times, and we apologise for any inconvenience this is causing to our passengers in the area."

Spokesman for Southern Water Simon Fluendy said: "Ratcliffe Highway in Allhallows will unfortunately remain closed for the rest of this week as stormy weather is making it unsafe for our teams to work.

"We will continue the road re-instatement as soon as weather permits.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing and thank road users for their patience."