WATER supplies to two schools and hundreds of residents have been restored after an underground pipe burst this morning.

Around 1,000 homes were left without water after the main pipe in Beetons Road, Bury St Edmunds, ruptured at 4am.

Howard Community Primary and Howard Middle schools both closed as a result of the leak.

Text messages were sent to as many parents as possible warning them of the school closures at 8am.

A spokesman for Anglian Water said the cause of the problem was a burst water main and said the supply was restored at 9.30am.

He said: “We got cracking on it straight away and quickly isolated the leak. There are no history of bursts in this area.

“We are sorry for the disruption caused by the burst main.”

Engineers were sent to isolate the leak, treating it as a priority.

“Such bursts become more likely in cold weather as freezing and thawing causes ground movement, which can damage pipes,” the spokesman said.

“We would encourage people to report leaks to us as soon as they are spotted so we can repair them as quickly as possible.”

Neither County Upper School or St Benedict’s Catholic School were affected.