There was Bank Holiday misery for residents who were left without water and electricity over a nightmare 24-hour period.

Problems for residents began on Monday morning when a water pipe which supplies 3,000 homes in Accrington, Baxenden and Rising Bridge, burst.

The pipe was repaired by the early hours of Tuesday, however a second pipe burst on Southwood Drive later on Monday afternoon and affected another 100 homes.

The problem was then compounded for some residents when an underground cabling fault hit their electricity supply for eight hours.

Water and electricity were restored to homes by the afternoon of Tuesday, May 3.

Kelvin Moloney, of Selby Close, Baxenden, said: “It’s been a nightmare really. We’ve had no electricity and when the water came back on it was dirty.

“We have not heard anything from the utility companies about it. The lack of communication is what’s annoying.”

His wife Christina said: “It’s just hard work for some people if you have children and babies or are older. They seem to have done their best to fix it.”

Neighbour Emily Irvine said: “It’s hard work getting children ready for school without water and electricity.”

Maxine Pedley, who lives next to the burst pipe on Southwood Drive, told how she was forced to bale water to stop her home from flooding.

The mum-of-two said: “Thankfully we were in when it happened as if not then our home would’ve definitely been flooded.

"It didn’t get into our house as we managed to bale very quickly. If they hadn’t switched off the water at the mains then we would’ve been fighting a losing battle.

“We don’t know how much damage has been done underneath our drive and our back garden is a swamp.

"I don’t think our driveway can stand any more springing leaks.”

United Utilities said they managed to keep many people’s taps flowing using water tankers and also established a free bottle water pick up point on Manchester Road in Baxenden.

A spokesperson said: “Our apologies to customers affected by the inconvenience. We’d like to thank them all for bearing with us during these challenging repairs.”

Electricity North West said 35 homes were affected but power came back on by 2.15pm on Tuesday.