About 40 percent of Hull’s 10,000 residents are without water and schools have been canceled, following a water main break early Tuesday in the South Shore town, a town official said.

Town Manager Philip E. Lemnios said the private company that supplies water to Hull, the Aquarion Water Company, made temporary repairs to the main this weekend and planned to make permanent repairs Tuesday night.

But around 5 a.m., the repairs failed. “Unfortunately, that repair did not hold,’’ he said.