OPERATIONS were postponed and bottled water distributed to patients and staff after a burst main left a large part of Southend Hospital without water.

Supplies to the hospital’s tower block, in Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff, were cut yesterday morning after a pipe burst outside the building, at about 3am.

This caused the pumps carrying water around the building to run dry.

Shortly before 10am, Leigh firefighters were called in to refill the building’s rooftop water tank by drawing water from another mains source and pumping it up through the building’s dry risers, which are internal pipes for emergency use.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Southend Hospital said: “We can confirm two pumps failed as a result of the burst water main.

“In order to maintain the highest levels of patient safety, it was necessary to postpone some planned surgery in the morning.

“However, the trust’s contingency plans are working well and disruption has been kept to a minimum.”

Because of the pump failure, patients, visitors and staff in some areas of the hospital were advised to avoid drinking tap water as a precautionary measure, and bottled water was made available.

Leigh fire station commander Simon Dedman said: “We got there and managed to get the tank topped up, which meant they didn’t have to evacuate the tower block.

“We were pumping constantly for about four hours to fill that tank up, so it was a lot of water.”

When crews left the scene, at about 2pm, a water tanker took over to keep water levels topped up while the pumps are repaired. It was expected the work would be complete today.