BELFAST – Some 40,000 people were struggling to cope on Wednesday without water supplies in Northern Ireland, where frozen pipes have burst, leaving some without fresh water for eight days.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the province are affected, with people forced to join long queues for bottled water. Parts of the capital Belfast are among the hardest hit. “At the latest count, 40,000 people are without running water,” a spokeswoman for Northern Ireland Water, which provides the province’s water and sewerage services, told AFP.
Leisure centres in Belfast and towns including Coleraine, Antrim and Cookstown opened to provide washing and showering facilities. Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness promised a review of the response to the situation.
“The recent long spell of sub-zero
temperatures and snow falls, followed by
a quick and dramatic thaw, has resulted
in frozen pipes followed by flooding
which has affected many people
adversely, with some having witnessed
considerable damage to their homes,” he
said. Peter Maguire, a doctor from
Newry, southwest of Belfast, has been
living for eight days without water.
