Burst pipe leaves a million Madrid residents without water

Sources from the water infrastructure board, the Canal de Isabel II, advised this evening that the majority of those affected had their supply back, but major damage had been caused to the drainage network and a sink-hole had appeared in the Avenida Niceto Alcalá Zamora.

They expect possible further sink-holes to appear in the next few days due to the colossal amounts of leaked water that has filtered into the sub-soil from the pipe link, and which may lead to roads being shut to traffic for a few days at a time.

Around a million residents in the metropolitan area were without water all day today, of whom 828,000 live in the main hub of the capital and close on 200,000 in the outer suburbs.

The districts of Villa de Vallecas, Barajas, Hortaleza, San Blas, Ciudad Lineal, Vicálvaro and Las Tablas were affected, as well as parts of three commuter towns, Paracuellos del Jarama, Coslada and Alcobendas.

Roads already shut off to traffic before the sink-holes were discovered include the Avenida Niceto Alcalá Zamora itself, the C/ Príncipe Carlos, the Glorieta Francisco Pi and the C/ Margall, in the Hortaleza area.

Over 70 water board engineers have been working on repairs since the breakdown was first reported early this morning, focusing mainly on repairing the parts which affected residents' on-tap supply.

Giant vats of water were distributed to health centres, hospitals, schools, care homes and other essential public service premises.

Photograph: Twitter (@JoseLuisSanz02)