Schools shut and water rationed as pipes burst after big freeze – while other parts of UK warned of floods

Taps run dry in thousands of homes and schools close over shortages

A number of schools in across London and the south said they were closed on Monday (PA)

Households across London and southeast England have been told to ration water after freezing weather caused pipes across the region to burst.

Thames Water said around 12,000 homes were left with no running water as it rushed to deliver emergency water bottles to affected households over the weekend.

Other suppliers also said they were struggling with burst pipes.

Four companies – Thames Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Affinity Water – issued a joint statement urging customers to use running water only where essential.

“Where possible, take short showers rather than baths, do not leave taps running unnecessarily and only run washing machines and dishwashers when you have a full load,” they said.

“This will make a real difference.”

A number of schools in London, Oxford and Exeter also said they would close on Monday due to a lack of water.

Dunraven School in Streatham, south London, said in a Twitter post: “We’d hoped things would have been resolved by now. No water on either site means we can’t open the school. We will update families when we can.”

Temperatures rose above freezing over the weekend, giving respite from the widespread disruption inflicted by the so-called "Beast from the East" weather system and Storm Emma over the previous few days.

However, repercussions from the prolonged period of sub-zero temperatures, snow, ice, gales and freezing rain are still being felt across large swathes of the country.

A flood warning was put in place by for parts of Halesworth in Suffolk, with rainfall and melting snow causing danger.

Dozens of alerts telling people to be prepared for the possibility of flooding were also issued, largely concentrated in the west of England and Wales.

On the rail network, there were warnings of disruption to Arriva Trains Wales, as well as cancellations on some Great Yarmouth to Norwich services run by Greater Anglia and early morning Glasgow Central to London Euston services on Virgin Trains.

Weather warnings for snow and ice were still in place for parts of north England, Northern Ireland and Scotland on Monday morning.

Ireland's meteorological agency has yellow and orange alerts in place for snow and ice which last until midday.

However it looks as though the worst of the winter weather has now receded for most of the UK, meteorologists say.

Forecaster Mark Wilson said: “There will be a noticeable change in the weather, it will be less cold and there will be less snow and ice.

“We are now going to see slightly less cold and milder weather, by Monday afternoon the temperature could be in double figures.

“There is a snow and ice warning for most of Scotland, through the day the snow will be restricted to the higher ground.”

He added: “We can get these quite abrupt change in temperatures because of a change in wind direction.

“From Monday there will be a more southerly flow with milder conditions.”

Press Association contributed to this report