Burst water main affects thousands in King's Lynn area

Anglian Water said the broken pipe was taking longer to repair than it had hoped

Rob Colwell Burst water main — Anglian Water said the broken pipe was taking longer to repair than it had hoped

About 6,000 homes were left with no running water when a main burst at the weekend.

Thousands in the King's Lynn area of Norfolk were affected when supplies went off on Saturday, but by Sunday it had been restored to all but about 650.

Anglian Water said at about 12:50 BST "most" residents in and around North and South Wootton were reconnected.

The company said work to fix the burst water main was complicated but it hoped to restore all supplies by 16:00.

Anglian Water has set up a bottled water hub at South Wootton village hall.

In a statement on its website, the company said: "We know it's worrying given the hot weather but please be assured our teams are working round the clock to get things back up and running."

People are continuing to queue at a water station set up in South Wootton

Ian Barmer/BBC Water station set up in South Wootton — People are continuing to queue at a water station set up in South Wootton

Anglian Water is handing out bottles to affected customers

Jill Bennett/BBC Workers standing with bottles of water — Anglian Water is handing out bottles to affected customers

Rob Colwell, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Gaywood South, said water had been made available on Sunday but he was concerned about vulnerable people if the situation was not resolved soon.

On Sunday Rob Colwell filmed a crowd "of several hundred" queuing for bottles of water

Rob Colwell people queuing for bottled water and Rob Colwell — On Sunday Rob Colwell filmed a crowd "of several hundred" queuing for bottles of water

On Twitter, he said he understood Anglian Water was planning a "workaround" for the issue in Spring Lane in Gaywood, King's Lynn, to help restore water more quickly.

He described the situation as a "crisis" and called on Anglian Water to set up more water distribution points in the area.

Live updates: Monday's heatwave in the East of England

Anglian Water updated its statement at about 12:50 on Monday, saying "most customers in the area are back on water".

However, a spokeswoman was unable to confirm how many properties remained without water.

The company said: "We're incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and frustration caused by this weekend's burst pipe, and the subsequent interruption to the local water supply.

"We know this couldn't have happened at a worse time.

"Our teams have worked around the clock since the incident began to get things back to normal.

"In the background, we'll carry on repairing the damaged pipe - but customers shouldn't need to worry about that. Even when we reconnect it they shouldn't see any interruption."