THREE quarters of a million gallons of water gushed on to Newton Abbot railway affecting properties in the Forde Park ara after a mains burst on Wednesday. A 15-inch turnk main suppyling Torquay burst around 5.30am and water flooded on to the rack. Trains had to be waved through on a flag-and-whistle system while teams of workmen shovelled up tons of sand and earth covering the line. One hundred homes in the Greathill and Rocombe areas of Torquay had their water supply disrupted. A South West Water spokesman said that all supplies were returned to normal by 2pm. A handful of properties in Forde Park also lost their water supply when a distributive pipe suffered a leak and were given a temporary overland water supply. Water cascaded into the cellar of Elizabeth and Michael Cosgrave's home in Forde Park, filling it to a depth of four inches. Mrs Cosgrave said she was woken at 5.30am when a policeman rang on the doorbell to warn them of water flooding into their drive. 'I immediately feared for the cellar, we've had a cellar flood before.' The cellar, containing their freezer, tumble drier, washing machine, lawn mower and other equipment was soon under water. As fast as firemen were pumping water out, it rushed back in until water engineers managed to stem the leak. By early morning Forde Park Road was a flurry of activity with diggers, lorries and other heavy equipment. South West Water engineers were able to isolate the burst fairly speedily and restore supply by re-routing the system. But repairs to the main itself were hampered by the close proximity of a gas main. A spokesman for South West Water said that the cause of the burst was unknown but was under investigation. Cllr Gordon Hook, another Forde Park resident, was concerned that the flood may have caused a pollution problem in the Aller Brook and contacted the Environment Agency to inspect it.