Glasgow was hit by widespread flooding after a fault caused four separate water mains to burst across the city.

At one point, as Scottish Water engineers battled to tackle the problems, a huge jet of water was sent shooting 30ft high from Cowcaddens Road.

Students from the nearby Stow college campus, now part of  Glasgow Kelvin College were evacuated. 

The college said in a statement on their website, "Due to problems with a water main at Cowcaddens, the college's City Campus building at Shamrock Street has experienced flooding and, in the interests of safety, will be closed Thursday 9th and Friday 10th January 2014."

Elsewhere, several areas were inches deep in water causing problems for people across the city. 

Broken pipes were reported across the city in Cowcaddens Road, New City Road, Duke Street and Mount Stuart Street leaving homes without water and forcing the closure of roads. 

In the city centre, the underpass to Cowcaddens underground was six feet deep in water stopping pedestrians from walking through.

Glasgow subway, however, said services were running as normal.

Meanwhile, in the east end of the city, a burst water mains on Duke Street resulted in the road being closed between Shettleston Road and East Wellington Street while Scottish Water workers carry out repairs. 

In the south side, at Mount Stuart Street, in Shawlands, homes were left without water after a main burst at 9.30am. 
Scottish Water advised that those living in the G41 area that they could face disruption to water supply.

A Scottish Water spokesman said: ""We have been working since the early hours of this morning to get the water supply restored to customers. An issue with our pressure management system resulted in a number of burst water mains in the Glasgow area.

"We are investigating the cause of the issue with our pressure management system and will work to identify how it can be avoided in future.

"We have received around 3,000 calls since the issue started affecting customers.

"There has been some flooding at Glasgow Kelvin College along with the nearby underpass. Work is underway to clear the floodwaters and we also have a team of engineers on site working to get the college re-opened as soon as possible.

"The repair work is nearing completion as we restore normal service to customers. Some customers may be experiencing a temporary loss of their water supply or low pressure, this will be remedied shortly.

"We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of these burst water mains and we want to reassure customers that we are working hard to restore supplies as soon as possible."

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said that two pumping appliances were at the scene, including one used for salvage purposes.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service incident commander Scott McFarlane said: "Two appliances attended from Springburn along with one from Cowcaddens and the major incident unit from Clydebank, with firefighters conducting salvage operations and using pumps to clear large volumes of water from buildings and streets.

"The crews did a great job of getting the college evacuated and cordoning off the area to keep the public safe, as well as dealing with the floodwater.

"They worked closely with our police colleagues and liaised with Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Kelvin College, Scottish Water and Scottish Power to ensure the incident was dealt with effectively and safely."

Glasgow City Council said there was a loss of water supply in the G3, G4, G22, G31, G33 and G73 post code areas.

In a statement published on its website, the authority said: "Due to water main bursts in certain areas of the city, water supply is restricted or is exhausted in some schools and nurseries."

It said that schools affected should be open as normal in the morning and advised parents to check its website and twitter for updates.