Southern Water has reported that as a result of Storm Eunice, the company lost power to 330 of its water and wastewater sites between Friday morning and Monday afternoon.

The utility battled four days of storms to keep customers and the environment safe as 112mph gusts of wind battered the South East of England.

Despite this, Southern Water said it had managed to keep water supplies to the vast majority of its customers, with less than 400 customers out of water across the 2.6 million community (0.01%).

It also managed to ensure that there were no major pollutions.

The storms saw the water company deploy hundreds of additional people on a 24/7 basis - including electricians, engineers and tanker drivers, and teams to remove trees and other debris that was blocking and damaging the network and sites.

In addition:

• 30,000 bottles of water were dispatched to vulnerable customers as a precaution
• 120 waste and 10 water tankers were dispatched to prevent pollutions and support customers’ supply
• 35 generators were used to restore temporary power while awaiting mains power to be restored.

Lawrence Gosden, Director Wastewater & Asset Management said:

“We mobilised a massive task force in advance of the storm, including placing emergency generators at critical sites and moving water tankers and bottled water to key locations. I want to thank our colleagues and contractors for going the extra mile to protect our customers and the environment, even staying overnight at critical sites to ensure we could safely reach them, despite difficult travelling conditions.”