Millions of litres of water down the gurgler

HUNDREDS of homes, the hospital and high school were without town water for several hours after a water main ruptured in Biloela on Monday.

Contractors damaged the main in Lookerbie St while they were working to replace the water main pipes about 9am on Monday.

As a result millions of litres of water flooded the street and neighbouring yards.

Banana Shire Mayor Ron Carige said the contractor was unable to isolate the break and repair it and council staff were called in to stem the loss of water.

However, one of the valves in the mains system did not work and council workers had to turn the water supply off at the high reserve (water tower).

Cr Carige said this resulted in a drop in water pressure and therefore people would not have been able to use showers and taps until the water was turned back on and the pressure built up again.

Cr Carige said he was unaware of any damage to homes or property due to inundation.

Banana Health Services director of nursing Ellen Palmer said the hospital had a temporary outage from 1.30-5pm and over that period there was no impact to the hospital's services.

"We had enough water on site to use during this time."