‘Left to live in drain water’ - South Tyneside homes ‘ruined’ by floods

Yesterday afternoon’s storm saw South Tyneside flooded leaving many stranded as Metros were shut off and roads waterlogged.

As many Great North Runner’s attempted to leave the area in search of their warmer and drier homes, some residents weren’t so lucky.

Walsh Road in Hebburn was submerged last night, ‘ruining’ the homes of six residents. Owned by housing association Home Group, the properties were soaked through, seriously damaging the downstairs of their homes and with no way to fix it.

One concerned resident told the Gazette: “Home Group would not answer their telephones last night and people had to live in absolute filth.

“The housing association will not help these people and they have lost everything downstairs. There are children in these houses and they refuse to help. There is sewage water/drain water all over their homes. All plug sockets were under water and the residents had no other option but to turn their electric back on which could cause fires.

“There are six residents of Walsh Avenue just being left to live in drain water.”

After finally getting through to Home Group this morning, the resident said they were told the housing association would not be able to help.

Les Woodward, Head of Service Delivery at Home Group said: “We are sorry that our customer has experienced this. While the flooding was caused by extreme weather, we always want our customers to feel safe and secure in their own homes.

“This morning, we have been on the estate assessing and working to support our customers.

“This has included our maintenance teams attending, carrying out electrical inspections to make sure the properties are safe, and organising temporary moves for customers to other properties where needed.

“We also had colleagues on hand to our customers to support them with a claim for damaged goods from the flooding, and we will continue to be on hand for whatever our customers need.”