The mum of a disabled man has been forced to top up her washing machine with bottled water to clean his soiled sheets due to the current water shortage.
Diane Diamond, from Dibden Purlieu, had to clean her double-incontinent son James with wipes today, and said she may be forced to take him elsewhere for the weekend if Southern Water does not sort the issue soon.
The 67-year-old said: "I have lived here for 45 years now and I have never experienced this.
"We have had power cuts before, but I've been brought a generator because of my son's needs.
"This is an absolute nightmare."
READ MORE: Storm Ciarán: Southern Water customers in Hampshire left without water
On Thursday night, Southern Water said it was dealing with a 'major incident' at its Testwood site, which supplies water to households in Southampton and the New Forest.
Storm Ciaran caused flooding along the River Test, churning up mud from fields and turning what a spokesman for the water supplier described as "the normally utterly clear river muddy brown where we draw water at Testwood to supply customers".
"The first stage of treatment is to filter out any particles and the site simply can’t produce water at the usual rate," they added.
She said: "I thought - what is going on here? I have an emergency number which I can ring because of James but I couldn't get through.
"I had to use wet wipes to clean him, and he is a big lad. It isn't funny at all."
This made her late to drop him off at the day centre he attends in Hythe - which is also without water.
Left with soiled sheets that needed to be cleaned, and in need of water herself, Diane visited the bottled water station set up at Applemore Leisure Centre and wheeled them back on foot to her home.
She also made a second trip to drop off water at her son's day centre, battling the traffic.
She said: "All morning, I've been filling the washing machine up with bottled water to clean his sheets.
"The machine is always on 24/7 anyway; I'm up to my eyeballs in washing as it is."
She added: "This is like going back to the Second World War and being on rations."
To compound her problems, Diane said the gridlock caused by people collecting water meant she may have to drive to James' day care centre and then bring him home by foot in his wheelchair.
Faced with the prospect of looking after James without water until 3.30pm on Sunday, when she can drop him off at respite care in Totton - which has also run dry - Diane said she may have to take him away at her own expense.
Referring to Southern Water, she said: "For people like me and James, they should contact me directly to ask if I need support or water delivered to me."
A spokesperson for Southern Water said: "We’re very sorry to hear about our customer’s struggles. We do know that calls are taking a while to get through but we are doing our best deal with everyone.
"We spent a lot of time preparing for the storm with extra people and equipment. The challenge has been immense with power cuts and flooding making it hard to keep sites running across the region.
"Before 5am this morning we delivered bottled water to 3000 homes and continue to make deliveries to customers, care homes farms and other places.
"We’re doing all we can to improve the situation and will keep customers informed with updates in the morning afternoon and evening."
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