Thousands of homes have been left without broadband and many with dwindling water supplies following a cliff collapse.

Household across Swanscombe and Northfleet have reported little to no internet connection and trouble accessing water following a landslide along Galley Hill Road on Monday.

The road is currently closed for safety reasons which means engineers from Openreach can't yet access the site to assess the scale of the damage.

A spokesperson told KentOnline "We believe that services to around 2120 customers are affected and we're sorry for this unexpected network disruption.

"Engineers are on standby, ready to start recovery work as soon as we're able to gain safe access to the area."

Northfleet resident Rosie-Ann, who lives in Taunton Road, is one of many residents affected by the cliff fall.

She said: "I've had no internet since Monday evening. After speaking with my provider Sky, we have been told the Internet will not be fixed until April 21 – and that isn't guaranteed!

'I've had no internet since Monday evening'

"I usually work from home on a Thursday and Friday so I've now had to travel into the office."

Earlier in the week, there had been problems with the water supply during peak usage periods.

Almost 600 houses are being supported by tankers to keep locals supplied with clean water while repairs take place.

"Until Thursday, there was no water for us," added Rosie-Ann. "They sent a couple of tankers in the morning but by the time we had got in from work... nothing!

"I think enough people have complained as there are now a lot more tankers today but I worry they won't keep the supply up over the weekend.

"We couldn't heat the home, shower, wash clothes and had to buy drinking water for cooking, flushing the toilet and so on!"

Thames Water, which remains in control of the site, says the cause of the collapse is still being established with surveys underway.

A spokesman said: "We’re continuing to work as part of the Kent Resilience Forum, with partner organisations including Kent County Council (KCC) and Dartford council and emergency services.

"We’re currently supplying 590 properties using tankers and exploring options to install temporary pipework to reconnect properties to our supply network."

A demolition firm was left to pick up the pieces after the cliff collapsed onto their premises, damaging buildings, vehicles and machinery.

Ronnie Pearce, who works at the family firm, said: "The first thing I wanted to do was get the gates open and get all the lorries we had out here inside, but once I opened the shutter I realised I can't salvage anything in there.

"The water was still coming down from the cliff, even when we got here there were bits still falling down."

Meanwhile residents have reported clogged up local roads owing to a "perfect storm" of traffic problems in the area.

Local councillor Peter Harman said: "Galley Hill Road was closed due to the subsidence, Craylands Lane was closed due to existing road works, and then to top it all a crash closed the A2 for a time, with all traffic being diverted along Southfleet Road into Swanscombe.

"We had some residents who kindly helped initially by assisting lorry drivers who were not following the signposted diversion routes; and then subsequently the KCC duty officer and Kent Police were in attendance trying to sort out the traffic."