Residents in western England formed long lines for rationed water on Wednesday after floods crippled a treatment plant and deprived hundreds of thousands of people of tap water. Some 350,000 residents in the Gloucestershire area have been warned they could face up to two weeks without mains water after the treatment plant was deluged at the weekend by the overflowing River Severn.

Utility Severn Trent has set up mobile water tankers in Tewkesbury and the nearby cities of Cheltenham and Gloucester, while the army has been drafted in to provide four million litres of bottled drinking water.

And Gloucestershire County Council said 1,300 portable toilets were being provided for vulnerable people in places like care homes.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament Wednesday he would visit the flood-hit areas later in the day and that the government would "do everything we can to get (water) supplies restored as quickly as possible."

With river levels having peaked and flood waters receding, engineers began assessing damage to the Severn Trent plant, which usually provides 120 million litres of clean drinking water per day to the area.

Engineers from Severn Trent Water entered the Mythe Water Treatment Works Wednesday for the first time and began the task of assessing any damage to determine when the water can be turned back on to 140,000 homes. "Flooding levels have reduced and pumping out has begun," a company spokeswoman said of the plant.

"This means that overnight progress has been made to restore a limited amount of the electrical power. This is the first stage of the recovery process that will get the plant back up and running as soon as possible," she said.

It could take two or three days to assess the damage.

Mother-of-two Simone Davies, 28, said her family were coping well as she waited in line for the family's daily pack of six two-litre bottles of water at a supermarket in Quedgeley, near Gloucester.

"We're getting through it at the moment," she said. "I've been buying the kids bottles of Coke and juice drinks and we're using baby wipes to wash with.

"We've also put a bin outside to collect rainwater to flush the toilet with but it's the toilet that really is the worst thing. But this is now almost becoming part of our daily routine and it isn't too bad."

Her 91-year-old grandfather Reginald Davies, who fought in Burma during World War II, recalled: "I did five days without water in Burma. I've seen men go mad from thirst. This is nothing.

"The worst thing is getting out of bed in the morning at 91 to get water," he said.

Source: Agence France-Presse