A water company official was quizzed by councillors at a flood meeting this afternoon as thousands of people spent the day without running water.

Councillors at the Kent flood risk management meeting today criticised South East Water for its handling of the situation.

It is estimated 5,000 homes in the county have had their supply cut off following the extreme changes in temperature.

It is thought that about 26,000 have been affected nationally.

Cllr Andrew Bowles (Cons) said: “If my calculations are correct, South East Water will take around 54 to 55 years to fix the backlog of leaks.

“The biggest complaint from those with their supply cut off is about getting information about what is going on.

“Communication needs to be improved.”

Cllr Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem) asked whether preparation was made ahead of time.

Lee Dance, head of water resources at South East Water, told the councillors water providers are working together to fix burst pipes and supply bottled water.

Mr Dance said: “This was completely unprecedented situation that we found ourselves in.

“We anticipated that after the freeze there would be a thaw.

“Last week we put some preparation in place but what we have just seen is unprecedented and we walked the entire network and we have found very little leakage.”

He added his team are now working to plug the leaks.

He said: “It’s our number one priority and we are putting a lot of work in putting that down.

“We have done the leaks from the trunk mains and we are finding leaks in the network and fixing them.

“We are also working with supermarkets to help provide bottled water for those affected and we are trying to find those leaks.”