A fleet of water tankers has been refilling the reservoir in Chequers Road, Minster, since Monday.

They have been trying to maintain supplies to Sheppey homes following a power cut on Sunday caused by Storm Gareth which knocked out pumps to water treatment works.

Southern Water spokesman Simon Fluendy said: "One of our water storage reservoirs is currently being topped up by tanker to deal with the knock-on effect of a power outage at a major water treatment works during the storms at the weekend.

"Using tankers ensures we get the reservoir re-filled to a level which ensures resilience in our network faster than relying on the network."

He said checks were to be made this afternoon (Thursday) to see if more emergency supplies were needed.

This morning three tankers could be seen parked at the water tower with one pumping water into the reservoir.

So far, engineers have pumped in 553,000 litres.

The last time tankers were needed to top up Sheppey's water reserves was in February 2017 when a pipe feeding the Island burst under Kingsferry Bridge.

Tankers were also used in January 2016 when a large main broke on the A249 near Bobbing.

Many homes were left without power from noon to 7.30pm on Sunday when high winds blew down an overhead power cable in Shurland Avenue.

Shops in The Broadway, Minster, were also affected.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: "Engineers worked as quickly as possible to restore power to customers in the Saxon Avenue and The Broadway area of Minster after a power line was damaged during high winds on Sunday.

"Supplies were initially interrupted to two customers at 11.50am but engineers needed to turn off supplies to 34 customers at 3.09pm to safely complete repairs.

"Power was restored to 34 customers at 6.14pm and the remaining two at 7.30pm. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused."