Holidaymakers and families at a seaside caravan park have been left without running water for more than 20 hours.

Around 500 caravans in Harts Holiday Park in Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey had nothing coming from their taps and staff had to resort to handing out bottles of water.

Park Holidays, which runs the site, said it had been “working closely” with local authorities to “find a resolution” to the issue which began around 7pm yesterday (July 31) but has since been fixed.

It is understood there had been a problem with pipework which has left the storage tank dry.

Southern Water said a team was sent to the park at around 11am to show staff how to get the water running again.

Lucia Smith, who lives on the site for 10 months of the year with her fiancé Ryan, who did not want to give his second name, and their two-year-old toddler, described the situation as a “nightmare”.

The 20-year-old mum says they spent £25 on water just so they could drink and flush their toilet.

She added: “Everyone at the camp is really upset including the managers and staff who have been left without answers.

“We were getting ready for bed and when I tried to fill up the kettle to make some tea nothing came out the tap. We checked with our neighbours around us and they were in the same situation.

“There are elderly, pregnant people and children all of which don’t have running water during a heat wave – it's a nightmare.

“Southern Water were on the site and turned the water off, we have been told, and have since turned it back on around 10pm.

“I have no idea how long it's going to be before it is turned back on but the staff have gone out of their way and brought about 100 six-packs of bottled water to give to people on site.”

However, as of 3.30pm today (August 1) the water had returned to the homes.

Meanwhile, Debbie Marney, from Sidcup, says her family holiday for the year has been “spoiled” by the outage.

She was dropped off at the site on Monday with her six family members including her 83-year-old mum, and are due to leave on Friday.

However, they were considering leaving early due to the lack of water which means they have nothing to drink, wash their hands and cooking utensils with, as well as wash themselves.

Speaking during the outage, the 63-year-old said: “It was supposed to be a nice family holiday but it has been a bit spoiled as we don’t know what is happening with the water.

“We finished dinner yesterday and then when we went to clean up there was no running water. We reported it to the site but we haven’t had any updates except a sign on the reception door that says ‘no water’.

“We thought it would be back on this morning but the only thing we can do water-wise is flushing the toilet.”