Love Island's Georgia Harrison and a Bake Off star are among 10,000 homes without running water for six days amid heatwave

By ELIZABETH HAIGH, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:50, 13 August 2026 | Updated: 11:56, 13 August 2026 Love Island's Georgia Harrison and a Great British Bake Off star are among 10,000 homes who have had no water for six days amid this week's blistering heatwave. Harrison and Pui Man, who appeared on the 2025 edition of the baking show, took to social media after supply issues in east London and Essex. Thames Water has blamed multiple burst pipes for the disruption and said this morning the issues will persist at least until tomorrow. It means thousands of people have been left without water amid a sixth heatwave of the summer which yesterday saw temperatures in London reach 32C (90F). Local supermarkets have had their shelves stripped of bottled water, and Thames Water has set up several supply stations to assist locals. As today is set to be one of the UK's hottest ever days, with the mercury expected to reach up to 38C (100F), those affected have not been able to flush their toilets or wash in their own homes for almost a week.  Taking to Instagram, Ms Man, 52, a bridal designer from Essex, posted pictures of her stock of dozens of water bottles, revealing it was the sixth day of the outage. Ms Man posed in her kitchen and tagged the beleaguered water company as she looked far from impressed. Love Island's Georgia Harrison shared a video of herself carrying packs of bottled water amid a Thames Water outage across 10,000 homes View this post on Instagram Pui Man, who appeared on the 2025 edition of The Great British Bake Off, took to Instagram from her kitchen in Essex and said it was her sixth day without running water View this post on Instagram Thames Water personnel handing out bottled water to residents at Roding Sports Centre in Chigwell, Essex on Tuesday Love Island's Ms Harrison, 31, of Redbridge, shared a tongue-in-cheek video of her leaving a local shop with two huge multipacks of water. Breaking into a jog before grinning at the camera, she added the caption: 'POV you live in Loughton, Buckhurst Hill or Chigwell and this is your shower and toilet.' Countless other residents took to social media to complain, pointing out the irony of having burst pipes losing precious water amid drought and a hosepipe ban in the area.  Economist Dr Faiza Shaheen, who previously represented the local area as a councillor, said: 'Absolutely outraged with what’s been happening locally the last few days… Thames Water have so much to answer for.  'In parts of Woodford and other parts of Redbridge our neighbours haven’t had water for days - and in such hot weather! 'Then you add on top of that the closure of Broadmead Road Bridge and burst pipes resulting in other road closures, which mean that even more cars and buses are diverted down residential streets. People have had enough!' Baker Ms Man told the BBC: 'I know they have the water station, but it's miles away. 'It's terrible, we can't flush the toilet. We can't do cooking. It's really, really bad.' Some residents have reported elderly and vulnerable neighbours have been left completely without – garden landscaper Nick Gaines said he had spent two hours on Wednesday delivering water to vulnerable customers.  Thames Water says it is delivering bottled water to the homes of anyone registered on its priority services register.  Footage posted on social media by Redbridge Council showed a huge crater in the middle of Wanstead Lane leaking water into the street The burst pipe caused a huge puddle of standing water which flooded the street Residents collect bottled water at a distribution centre in Loughton, Essex on Wednesday Thames Water staff load up a resident's car with bottled water on Tuesday Footage of one broken pipe posted by Redbridge Council showed a huge crater in the middle of Wanstead Lane, with water rushing out onto the street causing large areas of standing water. Water stations opened in Ilford, east London, and Chigwell, Essex, after burst water mains left homes and businesses with no water or low water pressure, Thames Water said. 'Thames Water have made us aware of another major burst water main on Wanstead Lane following the burst main on Chigwell Road yesterday,' the council said. 'Our teams are on site assisting with traffic management and providing sand bags whilst Thames Water repair the damaged pipe to get water flowing through taps again as soon as possible.' Fourteen postcodes are affected by the issues: E10, E11, E17, E18, E4, IG10, IG2, IG4, IG5, IG6, IG7, IG8, IG9 and RM4. In an update last night, Thames Water said it was 'making progress' and three sets of repairs have now been carried out.  A fourth pipe to be fixed had a three-metre leak and a trench with a depth of three metres had to be dug to reach it.  Several bottled water stations have been set up, including at Fairlop Ice Kingdom and Beal High School, both in Ilford and Tesco on Southend Road in Redbridge. MP for Ilford North and Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said this week: 'I'm aware of multiple water outages caused by pipes bursting affecting residents across Ilford North. My team and I have been in contact with Thames Water, and will continue to push for urgent repairs and updates. 'If you need my help, don't hesitate to contact my team.' A statement on Thames Water's site said: 'We're continuing to work towards all customers being back in supply by Friday, many will return sooner and this will depend on how quickly the network recovers.  'We have tankers and engineers in place overnight to ensure this happens as quickly and safely as possible. 'We know some customers have been without water for a long time and we're continuing to provide support while this work is under way, including bottled water deliveries to PSR registered customers and through bottled water stations.'