Anglian Water has issued an apology to people living in the Ipswich area after hundreds of homes were left without water in the scorching heat at the weekend.

Properties in east Ipswich, Whitehouse, Kesgrave, Martlesham and other surrounding areas were affected by the issues on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

On Sunday, Anglian Water confirmed the issue was due to a pump failure and expected it to be resolved by the early hours of Monday.

The supplier warned some homes may experience brown or yellow water on Monday morning, but said it was harmless and safe to drink.

On its website, Anglian Water apologised to customers who were affected by the pump failure on Saturday and Sunday.

It came as temperatures in Ipswich reached almost 30C at various points over the weekend, with an amber heat-health alert issued in advance by the Met Office and UK Health Security Agency.

An Ipswich resident, who gave her name as Claire, expressed her anger at the water supply issues.

She said: "We do understand that things go wrong but it was very unfortunate to have happened on two of the hottest days of the years so far.

"Fingers crossed there will be no issue with the water again tonight but we have pre-filled some bottles just in case."

An Anglian Water spokesman said: "We are very sorry that residents in Ipswich may have had low water pressure or no water at all over the weekend.

"Unfortunately, we had a problem with the pumps which keep water flowing through the pipes to customers’ taps.

"On both nights, one of our technicians was able to get the pumps reset in a few hours.

"Normally our pumps can easily cope with the extra demand for water when the sun's out, but because we're doing some maintenance work at Rushmere Reservoir they were working harder than usual. 

"Customers’ supplies should now be back to normal, though the water may look a little cloudy or discoloured."