Hundreds of York homes left without water for hours after power cut

Hundreds of York homes and businesses were left without water last night.

People reported being cut off in areas across the city. And many more homes had very low water pressure.

People in Acomb, Chapelfields, Huntington, Poppleton, South Bank, Copmanthorpe, Woodthorpe and Clifton Moor all reported problems.

At 9.36pm, Yorkshire Water tweeted: “A power outage in York this evening has caused no water due to an issue with a pumping station.

“We are en route to look into this and aim to have water restored ASAP. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.”

People reacted with dismay. One said: “Any update on how long this will take? Myself and my child really need a drink!”

Another wrote: “Daughter in law was stuck with a head full of hair dye made a dash for bottled water either that or wait til her hair fell out!”

Several pubs and restaurants were also affected by the outage.

The spokesperson added: “There has been a power cut at one of our pumping station and at the minute one of the electricians is on route to get your pressure restored asap.”

By midnight the electrician was on site. Yorkshire Water announced all supplies were restored at 2.16am, and added: “Customers may experience discoloured water following the issue.”

It is the second big water outage for York in a matter of months. In December, a large area of the city, including Huntington and Haxby, was left with no water after a burst water main in Wigginton Road.

Luke Charters, the Labour parliamentary candidate for York Outer, has urged Yorkshire Water to compensate households that were affected.

He said: “Water companies do not automatically provide compensation where pressure drops only once within a 28 day period.

“Yorkshire Water made £200m-plus profit last year. I have written to them requesting that they automatically and voluntarily compensate York households for this incident.”