Hydrant vandalism causes flooding

Six homes have been flooded after children damaged a street fire hydrant.

The hydrant in Wood End, Coventry, was vandalised during Tuesday night, leading to gallons of water rushing along Milverton Road.

A Severn Trent Water spokesman said it was the seventh such incident of the summer thought to have been carried out by children between 10 and 12.

Engineers had to work in teams after having stones thrown at them and equipment stolen, she added.

'Stones and bricks'

"We have had a spate of vandalism where young children are deliberately knocking the heads of fire hydrants," the spokeswoman said.

"Severn Trent staff going out to repair them are getting stones and bricks thrown at them.

"It happens every summer. We have had seven incidents this summer and two in the last couple of days."

She said this had been the worst incident so far with one house being badly flooded.

"All the water gushes out of the hydrant which does drain the water system.

"If there was ever a fire at the same time it would hamper the fire service's ability to deal with it," she said.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said they were aware of the problem, but had not made any arrests.

They appealed for anyone with information to contact them.