A “major incident” has been declared in Kent as thousands start another week without water.
South East Water (SEW) has blamed this latest outage across 11 postcode areas on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.
On Monday morning, many customers in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Maidstone, Whitstable, Canterbury, and surrounding towns are without water.
The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF), a partnership of agencies and councils in the county, have declared a “major incident” in response.
A KMRF spokesperson said: “Resilience Forum partners are working tirelessly together with the water companies to limit the impact on communities, businesses and residents and will continue to do so until the situation is completely resolved.”
Last week, the chief executive of SEW David Hinton was grilled by MP’s during a Parliament Committee hearing for his handling of an incident last month, where 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells were left without water for several days.
The Chair of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee Alistair Carmichael MP, later sent a letter questioning the “accuracy and intent” of Mr Hinton’s evidence.
Details of bottled water stations opened by SEW in Tunbridge Wells and across East Grinstead can be found on the company’s website.
South East Water have been contacted for comment.
