Tens of thousands of homes still without water after Storm Goretti

Tens of thousands of homes in the south-east of England are still without water, with many told supplies will not be restored until at least Tuesday.

In Sussex, some 16,500 households in East Grinstead have no or low pressure supplies, with people in Eastbourne and the village of Upper Dicker experiencing similar problems.

In Kent, about 4,500 homes in the Hollingbourne, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Kingswood and Sutton Vallance areas have been left with no water, while those in Wrotham, Sevenoaks and the Loose area of Maidstone have low pressure or no supplies.

South East Water (SEW) has apologised to all those affected and said it was delivering water to those on its priority register.

The supply problems have been caused by a number of issues across SEW’s network.

The company blamed Storm Goretti and cold weather for the outages in East Grinstead and “essential network changes” for those in Eastbourne.

It said the issues in Hollingbourne were due to “neighbouring water companies being unable to give us the bulk supplies of treated water as they normally do”.

A number of bottled water stations have been set up around the region but residents say it is causing chaos on the roads.

A woman from Forest Row, two miles south of East Grinstead, told the BBC: “Most of the village is currently without water and yet we have to travel to East Grinstead to collect bottled supplies.

“The roads around East Grinstead are gridlocked with people queuing for water. Why aren’t there water stations in the villages around East Grinstead that are without water?

“South East Water says it has delivered water to the elderly and vulnerable and indeed my sister, aged 72, had water delivered to her. However, her 92-year-old neighbour received nothing.

“How are the elderly and those without cars expected to travel to East Grinstead to get water?”

She added: “Two water collection points is obviously woefully insufficient.”

The BBC put these comments to SEW, which said it had taken action following criticism.

Mims Davies, the Conservative MP for East Grinstead and Uckfield, said she felt “extremely sorry and frustrated for vulnerable customers, those with livestock, young children and babies, along with all the businesses which are deeply affected”.

She described the ongoing situation as “the worst case scenario”.

Steve Andrews, incident manager at SEW, said: “We have listened to customer feedback regarding yesterday’s bottled water station at Sainsbury’s, Brooklands Way, and we have taken the decision not to open this today, with an alternative bottled water station opened at East Grinstead Sports Club. We apologise for the disruption caused to the local community.”

The other bottled water station in East Grinstead is at the Queensway car park.

In Kent, water stations are at Tunbridge Wells rugby club and Headcorn Aerodrome in Ashford.

The village of Stelling Minnis, near Canterbury, is also experiencing supply issues, while thousands in Tunbridge Wells who have been without water since Tuesday should see it return on Sunday, SEW said.

Mary Creagh, a minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said on Saturday the problems were “unacceptable”.

“I remain very concerned that people in several areas in the South East and South West are experiencing water supply issues following both cold weather and Storm Goretti,” she said.

“This is entirely unacceptable. This afternoon, I chaired a further meeting with the water companies and local resilience forums to restore supplies as quickly as possible, prioritising vulnerable customers and essential public services.”