People were left without water on some of the hottest days of the year so far.

Residents in the Coxheath area experienced little to no water pressure on Sunday and Monday as temperatures climbed to nearly 30 degrees.

Across the village people were reporting taps not working and toilets not flushing with others having to seek the help of relatives for a shower.

Joanne Marchant, 38, first noticed the problem at her home in Clockhouse Rise on Sunday afternoon. She said: “We had no water all the way through to Sunday evening.

“It went again at around 4pm yesterday afternoon and didn’t come back until about 11pm and even then it was very low flow.

“It’s been difficult, I’m on medication which makes me more susceptible to dehydration and me and my partner are having to go to my sister’s in Sittingbourne to have a shower.”

Joanna Hamer in Pippin Close also experienced a lack in supply.

She said: “We’ve had this unbelievable heat where you feel like you don’t want to do anything.

“You find yourself drinking more and more water to stay hydrated and then we get messages saying there is going to be a disruption to your area.

“Everyone went into panic mode and went to Tesco and began buying water.

“When we had the hot weather last year we had a spell without water for days. I know they set up the bottled stations but last year that didn’t happen for a long time.

“And we get the same general message but that’s not always what the customer wants to hear. They want to know what the actual problem is instead of feeling like they are being fobbed off all the time.

“Because of the previous experience we’ve had with water there is an understanding that it could happen again. At one point I had bottles of water in the cupboard filled with water. When you hear that tap dripping you think is this going to happen again?”

Borough councillor for Coxheath and Hunton ward Lottie Parfitt-Reid has been trying to get answers from the water company.

She said: "I was alerted on Sunday night about the water shortage and saw that my own water was off around 6pm.

“I was on hold to South East Water for 30 minutes but even when I got through they did not know the problem.

“These shortages are very dangerous for vulnerable people. The water finally came back on around 10pm. It is totally unacceptable.

“The problem is that it is a profit driven company and they have not invested in the infrastructure which is outrageous. I would advise residents to fill up their water jugs out of peak times in case the water goes off again.

Douglas Whitfield, operations director at South East Water said: “We have had a really challenging 72 hours now with really high demand in the area. In the summer it’s what we expect but we’ve seen incredibly high demands in localised areas, near record demands. We’ve had the odd power blip which has taken out some of our treatment works which has affected some of the stored water levels.

“It’s frustrating for me and the team trying to maintain supply. I’m really sorry to customers in that area. We are doing everything we can to make sure not only do we restorer supplies but to make sure it can continue into the summer.

Residents raised concerns over the housing developments in the area having an impact on supply.

In response Mr Whitfield said: “Housing growth is factored into our long-term plan.

“What we have seen over the last couple of years is these weather extremes and these changes in demand that have happened very quickly.

“Since lockdown a lot more people are working from home now so our demand patterns changed. So while that long-term growth is there its the short-term demand in the weather and demand that have caused these problems so we are reviewing our plans to see what we can do to move forward.

“Supplies have returned to the area and we are doing everything we can to keep that but it does remain an area at risk while demands stay high.

“Please use water wisely, use it for what you need to but don’t fill the paddling pool and don’t put the sprinkler on those things can wait until the hot weather has passed.”

Residents have been informed water stations are in the process of being set up but no confirmation of their location has been given.