Thousands without water for fifth day
About 10,000 homes are still without water or with a limited supply as problems continue into a fifth day, Southern Water has confirmed.
The firm said 32,500 customers in Hastings and St-Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex were initially left without water after a pipe burst on Thursday.
On Monday, the supplier said: “More than 20,000 properties should have supply now but around 10,000 are either without water or having intermittent supply.”
It said it expected supplies to return to those properties later on Monday.
Southern Water said affected areas included parts of central Hastings, including Belmont, Forest Way and Newgate South, St. Helen’s, west of Fairlight, and an area north of Hollington, including The Ridge and Queensway.
The company said a number of homes would be “supported by a fleet of tankers today injecting water into the network”.
The outage coincides with the annual Jack in the Green Festival in Hastings and the May Day Bike Run, both of which see thousands of visitors.
The events are going ahead despite the water issues, although some revellers told reporters they had been filling up buckets with sea water in order to flush their toilets.
Over the weekend, East Sussex County Councillor Godfrey Daniel said: “The impact on the town will be drastic, a lot of people will lose a lot of money.
“These businesses are struggling as it is with the cost of living crisis.”
Keith Leech, chair of trustees for the traditional Jack in the Green event, said Hastings would “do it regardless of what was going on”
Keith Leech, chair of trustees for the traditional Jack in the Green event, said: “On a Bank Holiday weekend that’s absolutely not what the town needs.
“All the pubs and restaurants, and hotels, were thinking of having to close but fortunately on this side of town they’ve managed to maintain a supply.
“Hastings being Hastings, we’re going to do it regardless of what’s going on.”
Four water stations set up at Tesco and Asda in St Leonards as well as a site in Sea Road and at Hastings Academy will continue to operate until 21:00 BST on Monday.
The company apologised “for the disruption this outage has caused, especially over the bank holiday weekend”.
Festival goers gathered in Hastings Old Town despite the poor weather and continuing water problems
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