Major Incident Declared Amid Water Outages In Kent And Sussex

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, ENGLAND - JANUARY 13: Bottled water is loaded into a car at an emergency water distribution point on January 13, 2026 in Tunbridge Wells, England. Kent County Council has declared a major incident as an estimated 30,000 properties across Kent and Sussex have been impacted by water supply issues over recent days, forcing schools and businesses to close. South East Water (SEW) has said Storm Goretti affected the water company's ability to treat raw water, coupled with burst water mains attributed to freezing and thawing conditions. This latest set of issues comes only weeks after a six-day supply failure affected 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells, leading several MPs to call for the resignation of SEW boss David Hinton. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)