Families on Sheppey face a night of misery as engineers announce the water supply to the island is unlikely to be reconnected tonight.

And to make matters worse, a further sinkhole has been discovered on the A249, which will not open this weekend, or possibly for several days to come.

Southern Water is working around the clock to reconnect the supply.

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In a statement the water company said: "We are sorry for the inconvenience but it is unlikely that water supplies will be connected this evening."

"This is because once the water supply is reconnected it will take a few hours to test and refill the water network in the area."

It comes after long-running repairs were carried out to the Island's water main under the A249 at Bobbing.

But a further sinkhole has been discovered in the embankment near to the burst water main, according to Southern Water.

This is being inspected by specialist geotechnical engineers, and it means the A249 will not be re-opened this weekend even though the flood across the carriageways has now stopped.

The company said a separate burst on a much smaller pipe in Harps Avenue, Minster, was fixed earlier today, but customers affected by that incident may still be affected.

It will, however, take time for the supplies to filter through the entire system and for water pressure to return to normal.

It has been a frustrating day for people across the area with more than 1,000 homes affected by the problem and several schools closed.

Areas of Minster, Eastchurch, Leysdown, Warden and Halfway have been hit from early this morning.

A fleet of tankers and lorries have been filling up the Southern Water reservoir at Chequers in Minster, with 30 tonnes of water at a time with a team of drivers working flat out.

Staff have also been distributing bottled water to residents. Water levels at the water tower dipped at about 6am today and officials said they were hoping to get levels back to normal by 3pm.

A massive load of bottled water has also been sent to the Morrisons store at Neats Court, Queenborough, for those needing supplies.

Minster Primary School and St George’s School Primary were forced to close along with Eastchurch Primary School's two sites in Eastchurch and Leysdown.

Head teacher Michelle Crowe: "We closed because we were concerned our own water supply wouldn't be able to cope with the demand.

VIDEO: Kiran Kaur reports.

"Our parents reacted very well. We want to thank them for how they have been co-operating with us.

"We sent a text to parents at 9.45am. We sent a message to all teachers who stayed on site until the children left. Staff also sent text messages to parents and posted information on Facebook pages."

The school's nursery was also closed. The Oasis Academy campus in Minster Road, Minster, closed from lunchtime, affecting around 1,000 pupils.

Staff said they were trying to send youngsters home, but those unable to make it alone were being looked after on site. The Sheerness site remained open as normal.

Southern Water initially said this morning's water shortage was caused by a second burst main in Harps Avenue, Minster, discovered at 5am. It was later repaired.

Water bosses later admitted the problems in Eastchurch and Warden Bay were related to the burst main on the Sheppey-bound A249.

The carriageway was closed on Monday night after water from the damaged 18-inch main poured onto the road at Bobbing, resulting in miles of daily traffic tailbacks. It's now emerged the A249 could remain closed well into next week.

Southern Water's contractors have been working to repair the damage. The Sheppey-bound carriageway has been shut off between Key Street and Bobbing while it goes ahead.

Its work is due to be completed by Sunday but once the water company has finished on site, Highways England has to check whether the leak has damaged the road.

Howard Fisher, head teacher of St George's Primary School in Chequers Road, said he had no choice but to close the school.

"There's no water. Unfortunately, we cannot stay open because we cannot flush toilets or cook. You really don't want 450 kids with no toilet.

"We found out because a number of parents started phoning because they said they were losing water. We have back up tanks but they ran dry fairly quickly.

"We have lots of procedures in place - we're used to it because of snow days. It's a bad time to close. We didn't find out until about 8am."

Minster Parish Council was advised that anyone without water who considers themselves to be vulnerable or a priority case that requires urgent assistance should contact Southern Water.

They can call 0330 3030368, select option two and quote reference number 3632504. Costcutter, in Minster Road, confirmed it has had a rush of people buying bottled water.

Cashier Sally Mills said: "We've got water but we've got a lot of people from Harp's Avenue coming in and buying bottles of water. The elderly are especially affected by what we see here."

Linda Dunnett, landlady at the Kings Arms, High Street, Minster, said: "The water was off from when we got up this morning.

"I'm probably not going to be able to open because customers can't use the toilets and we can't wash any glasses. We could be majorly out of pocket if this goes on much longer."

A Southern Water official later added: “We would like to apologise to customers in the Eastchurch area who may be experiencing water-loss.

"This is related to the Monday's burst main along the A249 between Sheerness and Bobbing.

Speaking about putting supplies back through the repaired section, a Southern Water spokesman said: "This has to be done slowly to avoid any further damage to the pipe and means that some customers will receive their water back later than others.

"We are currently modelling how the area will return to supply and will update customers with this information via our website and the media as soon as we can.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience this disruption has caused customers and are working as hard as we can to ensure supplies are returned to everyone as soon as possible.

"A separate burst on a much smaller pipe in Harps Avenue, Minster, was fixed earlier today however the customers affected by that incident may still be affected."

It is understood that further testing needs to take place to make sure the water supply is safe for people to drink.