A disaster has been declared in the US city of Odessa, Texas, after a break in a water main left 165,000 people without water in the middle of a heatwave.
People in the city are reportedly without access to mains water and will have to wait for it to be repaired, with officials suggesting it would be a 48-hour job.
The break in the water line occurred on Monday (13 June) and thousands of people have been without running water since then.
Businesses and schools in the city were closed yesterday, while hospitals have had to cancel surgeries due to a lack of water and people are struggling through the sweltering heat.
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There are hopes that for many residents of Odessa the water will be back on later this morning, though even if the repairs have been completed it will take between 10 and 12 hours for the supply to come back on.
However, those figures are at best an educated guess as they've never restarted their entire water plant system before and don't know exactly what to expect.
The loss of water couldn't have come at a worse time for the city of Odessa, which is into its fourth day of triple-digit temperatures in a brutal heatwave.
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Some parts of the city are still able to get water, but officials have ordered them to boil all water before using it to clear it of possible contamination.
Some stores have limited customers to buying two bottles of water to avoid stockpiling and preventing others from having access.
Officials have also set up centres where they can hand out bottled water to people and keep them hydrated through the sweltering heat.
The heatwave in Odessa shows no sign of abating as temperatures hit highs of 100 degrees Fahrenheit and are expected to stay high throughout the week.
According to USA Today, the city's water supply was already in an old and deteriorating state with deputy city manager Phillip Urrutia suggesting old pipes were the reason for loss of water.
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He said: "It's an aging infrastructure that we’re seeing.
"It's a cast iron pipe, and so those are typically more susceptible to breaks than other new technologies like PVC pipe that’s going in the ground."
The broken pipe sent water pouring out over a street rather than flowing into the homes of people who needed it during the brutal days-long heatwave where temperatures climbed into the triple digits.
Residents will be told when it's safe to start using the water again, which is hopefully not far off now.
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Joe Harker