South East Water: Homes without water after frozen pipes burst

Homes across a Kent town have been left without water after freezing weather caused pipes to burst.

South East Water has apologised after the supply issues in parts of Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas. About 3,000 customers are affected by intermittent supply, it said.

Some homes have been without water since Thursday afternoon.

It comes after a power cut left 140 homes in parts of East Sussex without water for over 24 hours on Tuesday.

South East Water have opened a bottled water station at Tesco in Pembury.

One school in Tunbridge Wells, Skinners' Kent Academy, was forced to close for the day as it had no running water or access to toilets.

In an email to parents, principal Hannah Knowles, said she would "pick up" with South East Water why they gave out "incorrect information" regarding their fault, stating that it was resolved when it "absolutely isn't" and the disruption that caused.

Local MP Greg Clark said it was time the water company "got a grip" on water issues in the town, and said he was calling for a debate in Parliament to discuss its "unacceptable performance".

One Tunbridge Wells resident, Gemma Tarr, said it had been a "nightmare".

She currently has Covid and is isolating with her partner, which has prevented them from getting bottled water.

She said her partner had to gather buckets of snow in order to be able to flush the toilet.

David Dormer, another resident, said he had "lost faith" in the water company.

"It's not just me, when these things happen, you look to other people. You've got the elderly, children, people that can't get out their houses," he said.

Steve Andrews, head of central operations at South East Water, said teams were working around the clock to restore normal supplies.

"We anticipate around 3,000 customers are currently impacted by an intermittent water supply as a result of an increase in burst pipes and customer leaks during this period of freezing weather," he said.

He said customers could pick up water from Tesco in Pembury until 18:00 GMT.

Mr Andrews added: "We have also drafted in water tankers to inject more drinking water into the network of underground pipes while also re-routing water around the system where possible."

The company has urged residents and businesses to check homes, unoccupied properties, outside taps and cattle troughs for leaks.

Earlier, the company said issues had affected customers in TN1, TN2, TN3, TN4, TN8, TN10, TN11 and TN15.

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