Water came back on yesterday evening in Pevensey Bay around 7:00pm as people breathed a collective sigh of relief that the emergency was over.
For the poor people in Hailsham and elsewehere it was another matter. Thousands of homes have been left without water after a serious burst on a major water main.
The key areas affected were in Hailsham and parts of Polegate and Eastbourne. All the areas had their supplies cut on Sunday afternoon, which also affected Pevensey Bay.
South East Water said engineers worked through the night to repair the large water main on the A22 at Diplocks roundabout in Hailsham.
About 4,500 properties in Hailsham are still without water and not expected to be reconnected until later today.
Simon Robertson, of South East Water, described the burst as a “major incident” and said the firm was working to get “water back to our customers as soon as possible”.
“We are sorry for the length of time it is taking for us to repair this pipeline.
“When the pipe burst it caused a great deal of flooding – up to waist deep in certain places – and we have had to pump this water away before we’ve been able to control the water flow in our network and reach the broken pipe,” he said.
“Once the repair to the pipe has been completed it will take some time for water to fill our extensive network of underground pipes in the Hailsham area, but we are hopeful supplies to all customers will be restored later this afternoon.”
The water mains burst on the A22 Hailsham Road, on Sunday, which was shut to allow engineers to carry out emergency repairs.
South East Water said bottled water was being provided to vulnerable residents and was also available from Hailsham Leisure Centre.
The first Bay residents knew about the emergency was when they found there was no supply, which lead to confusion about what had happened.
On Streetlife, the useful local social media conversation network that connects people on a one-to-one basis across the locality, there was discussion about what had happened.
One poster commented at 4:00pm on Sunday “Does anyone know why there is no water on Beachlands?
They were pointed to the South East Water website that was full of useful information about the situation.
Status updates were provided regularly.
The current status reports (15:44pm Monday);
Bottled water available at key locations.
We are providing free bottled water to customers in the Hailsham area who are still experiencing no water.
The bottled water can be collected from Hailsham Leisure Centre car park only. We are asking customers to only take the supplies they need. We are also organising deliveries of bottled water to vulnerable customers in the area. If you have an elderly or vulnerable neighbour or friend, please make sure they have sufficient water. Please contact us if you have concerns.
Our engineers have now repaired the burst main on the A22 Diplock roundabout junction. However, we need to put water into the main slowly to prevent further bursts.
We are currently anticipating most customers will have supplies restored early this evening.
We will update this message with more detailed information as soon as it becomes available.
As word got round in the Bay supplies of bottled water quickly ran out. Owner of the 1066 stores in Pevensey Bay, Suresh Neesarajah, told us ‘as soon as we knew what was going on we went off to the Cash and Carry to buy 30 cases of water, with 12 bottles to a case, but they also ran out within half an hour’.
Neighbours phoned their friends with offers to help as new supplies of water appeared in bottled form rushed to people from outside the area, as concerns grew for some of the older local folk and their needs.
Locally, it was relief all round as the supply came back on in the early evening, sadly with calls going out to plumbers on Streelife because of burst pipes in homes in the Bay as the supply surged back into action.
Thoughts turned back to the folk in Hailsham with news that Police had been called to help manage the crowds as thousands of people flocked to distribution centres to get water supplies.
