Supply threat after river bursts

Customers could have experienced low pressure or loss of water

Thousands of homes in West Sussex faced their water being cut off after a river burst and flooded a construction site.

South East Water had to shut a water main when the River Ouse flooded its site in Danehill on Thursday afternoon.

It meant 20,000 homes in areas such as Crawley and Burgess Hill faced having problems with their water supply.

But staff from the water firm worked through the night to repair the main and supplies were restored on Friday.

New connection

The incident happened when the river water poured into the site at Freshfields Lane where South East Water was carrying out planned work on the 32in (81cm) water main.

The main transfers water from Barcombe treatment works in East Sussex to a service reservoir in Horsted Keynes which eventually supplies homes in East Grinstead, Crawley Down, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill.

The flooding meant customers faced having problems with their supply such as low pressure or complete loss of water once reserves had been used up.

Colin Hannan, from South East Water, said: "The contractor was making a new connection to the pipe when the incident happened.

"They immediately evacuated the site and raised the alarm before mobilising additional resources and equipment to undertake emergency repairs."