Engineers had to be called in yesterday morning (Thursday) after a water main burst in Sheerness town centre.

The High Street has been closed off to traffic at its junction with Millennium Way.

Employees from Southern Water are working to repair the problem.

VIDEO: Engineers work to repair burst main in Sheerness High Street

A Southern Water spokesman said: "Our crew have now finished repairing the main but the road closures are still in place while we reinstate the road.

"Even after new pipes have been installed, we can’t just fill in the ground and leave. We have to lay a surface and let it settle before a top layer of concrete, asphalt etc, can be laid and set. Only when this resurfacing has been carried out is it safe for us to allow traffic to start using that section of the road again.

"As soon as this work is complete we will be able to remove the traffic management system and we would like to thank local residents and businesses for their patience while we work to finish this vital repair."

Businesses are open as usual, although some are said to be without water.

Stanley Ward, owner of Kent Fresh Foods said: "It is very quiet out there at the moment, it's dead as a dodo.

"But I've got a big water tank which I can use to wash down which is good but other businesses will have to close.

"It's affected everyone along here, but what can you do?"

Jan, owner of Jan's Cafe, said it will affect her this morning: "They're going to cut the water off and my coffee machine runs off the mains.

"I'd have to buy a kettle and boil bottles of water but it's not worth me staying open - I'll have to close."

A few doors up and chip shop Island Fish Bar has also been hit by the water problem.

Owner Erdi Ermis said: "It's okay at the moment but it depends on how long it will be until it's fixed.

"We can't wash up, not without water."

Buses are being diverted.