A major incident, which left people without water for over 24 hours, caused communities and churches to rally together in Surrey at the weekend.

More than 13,500 homes were affected by the problem which started at a Thames Water treatment site supplying the Godalming and Guildford areas.

The issue was blamed on Storm Ciarán, which has caused havoc up and down the country, engulfing cars, flooding roads, smashing windows and doors and grounding flights.

Some in the Guildford area found their supply cut off on Saturday evening, while others filled up tubs and jugs, only to find their taps dry on Sunday morning.

Thames Water opened up three bottled water stations in the area, which quickly led to queueing and traffic congestion.

Local resident Catherine Marsden told Premier how a confirmation service for a dozen young people at St John’s Church, Farncombe was still able to go ahead on Saturday evening, with several parishioners working behind the scenes to keep the water supply going.

She said she felt that the community spirit was “definitely reminiscent of Covid”, adding, “the neighbourhood WhatsApp group was asking who’d got water, and there was a call out from a care home who had not been delivered water even though they should have been on the vulnerable people’s list. We marshalled water, and water was dropped off, so they had plenty by [Sunday] evening.

“One church I heard had an anecdote about turning wine into water.”

Schools in the area were shut on Monday, with parents having to make alternative arrangements for work and other responsibilities.