Thousands left without water in Crawley as burst pipe floods roads and closes part of the A23

Thousands of households across parts of Crawley, West Sussex, lost their water supply or experienced heavy pressure loss on Sunday after a major pipe burst, with several roads closed and a key roundabout overwhelmed by floodwater. Southern Water said around 9,000 customers were affected by the incident, which began early in the morning and prompted warnings from police for people to stay clear of the area.

The disruption centred on the Southgate Roundabout, a busy junction in the town centre area, where roads were closed from Sunday morning while emergency services dealt with what Sussex Police described as a "significant" leak. Sussex Police asked residents and passing motorists to avoid the surrounding streets while the situation was managed safely, and closures have had an immediate effect on journeys through one of Crawley's most heavily used road junctions.

Southern Water, the regional water utility, said repair crews were already on site and working to restore supplies as quickly and safely as possible. A company spokesperson said restoring water to customers remained the company's highest priority, adding that teams were focused on fixing the burst main and stabilising the local network. No completion time was given at the point of publication, and the scale of the flooding suggested a repair of some substance rather than a quick stoppage.

Customers in the Woolborough Road, Holmcroft, Southgate, Tilgate and Furnace Green areas were reporting either a complete loss of supply or a significant drop in pressure, according to the company. Losing pressure is often more disruptive than a full cut-off for many households, because it affects anything that relies on a steady flow — combi boilers, washing machines, flushing, and garden hoses — even where a trickle of water still emerges from the tap.

Three roads were confirmed as closed as a result of the flooding, according to Southern Water: Southgate Avenue, Crawley Avenue and part of the A23. The closure of the A23 is the most significant of the three, since the route is a major arterial road carrying traffic between the capital and the south coast. Drivers using it as a through route are being diverted, adding pressure to local streets already dealing with standing water and emergency vehicles.

To help residents who cannot store enough water to last, Southern Water said it was setting up bottled water stations across the affected area. Such stations are typically used for households with medical needs, small children, or anyone dependent on powered medical equipment, as well as being opened more generally when a supply interruption lasts for several hours. Details of locations and opening times are available through the water company's own advice pages.

One early riser gave a vivid account of the scene at the roundabout. Martin Lawrence, who was out making deliveries in the area at about 05:00 BST, told BBC Radio Sussex that he came across an enormous volume of water moving across the road. He described a torrent running from one side of the roundabout to the other and pouring into a nearby underpass, and said he had never seen anything like it in his life — an indication of how early the flooding had begun before most residents were awake.

Water escaping from a burst main at that scale tends to remove pressure from the wider network quickly, which is why customers several streets away can be affected alongside those closest to the leak. Underground pipework under a junction or roundabout is also harder to reach than a section in open ground, so excavation and repair can take considerably longer than the initial burst would suggest. In the meantime, the water has to be diverted or shut off to make the site safe for crews.

This is not the first significant disruption to water supplies around Crawley in recent months. The BBC has previously reported on a major outage that affected Gatwick Airport, the major international airport close to the town, including one incident in late July and a separate case in late August in which the airport was left without water after a main burst and flights were affected. Those episodes underline how concentrated and consequential bursts can be in this part of West Sussex, where population, transport hubs and industrial sites sit close together.

For residents, the immediate priorities are having a supply of drinking water, keeping electrically powered appliances that need water from overheating or failing, and staying clear of flooded roads, which can be deeper than they appear and hide open drains or damaged surfaces. Motorists in particular have been asked to avoid the area entirely rather than attempt to drive through floodwater around the roundabout and underpass.

Local businesses, including those relying on water for cleaning, food preparation or cooling, are likely to face disruption while the supply is interrupted, and the road closures will affect staff and deliveries even for premises outside the immediate cordon. The BBC has not reported any official estimate of when normal service will resume, and utility companies typically update customers as repair work progresses.

For now, the picture remains one of a town adjusting to a significant infrastructure failure in daylight hours: around 9,000 customers without reliable water, three roads shut including a section of the A23, bottled water stations being established, and a repair operation under way near Southgate Roundabout. Sussex Police and Southern Water have both asked the public to stay away from the affected streets while the leak is repaired, and further updates are expected as the work continues.