Flood families face move during repairs (From Echo)

Flood families face move during repairs

6:00pm Friday 10th February 2012 in News By Faye Hackwell

FAMILIES are preparing to move out of their flooded homes while repairs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds are carried out.

People living in East Bridge Road, South Woodham Ferrers, are facing up to the devastating damage caused when a million gallons of water flooded 43 homes, after a water main burst on Tuesday.

A loss assessor told one resident the worst damaged homes could cost up to £50,000 to repair.

Essex and Suffolk Water’s insurance company is footing the bill and damage assessors have been visiting homes to tally up the repairs required.

Michael Flett’s home was flooded by four inches of water and he thinks his family and about 30 other households may have to move out temporarily.

The 61-year-old said: “There’s going to be an enormous bill here.

“Some people have lost their entire kitchens.

“There’s going to be a lot of rebuilding to do along the street and people will have to move out while it’s being done – that could be for months.

“I believe the insurers will make arrangements for us, but people will want to stay locally and South Woodham Ferrers is a small town, so it will be difficult to accommodate everyone.”

Damage assessors discovered asbestos in Mr Flett’s floor tiles so the entire floor will need to be replaced and his beloved garden he invested heavily in has been ruined.

Another resident lost two cars and others need their entire floors taken up.

Mr Flett, who is still living in his house at the moment, added: “Everybody’s been discussing what’s happened with their neighbours and the water company have been fantastic keeping us informed.”

Essex and Suffolk Water said it was too early to say how much damage had occurred.

The company apologised to residents during a meeting on Tuesday evening.

Sarah Pinkerton, water company spokeswoman, said: “They have been working with us brilliantly and we want to pay tribute to them and thank them for their co-operation.

“The team reacted really quickly and we’ve had lots of supportive comments from residents.

“That doesn’t take away from what is an awful situation and we can’t apologise enough for the burst itself, but we have done absolutely everything we can.”

Water company staff have visited each affected home and are remaining in the street assisting residents.”

Ms Pinkerton added: “We will be there for as long as we need to be.”

Repairs on the damaged main have almost been completed, although this doesn’t affect customers because the supply was re-routed shortly after the main burst.