A farmer has described how his nephew was nearly killed when a wall of water “100ft high” shot up from the ground as he knocked a fence post into the ground, damaging a pipe.

Philip Langton, 57, said the pair had been using a post knocker mounted to a tractor to strengthen gateposts on his land in Holbrook, Derbyshire.

He said the posts only went around 18 inches below the ground and that all they were doing was “knocking them a little bit further”.

But the post hit a water pipe, triggering floods that cascaded down to neighbouring villages and caused severe damage to homes and businesses

Ian Busting in neighbouring Milford said his wife was devastated as her florist business was “ruined” and their home completely flooded. Many roads were closed.

It took Severn Trent 50 minutes to turn the water off after Mr Langton alerted them to the accident at 11am on Tuesday, he said.

“I have never experienced anything like it and never want to again,” he told the Telegraph.