Family ‘living in a nightmare’ after their States house floods
A FAMILY say they have been 'living in a nightmare' for almost two months after their house flooded.
States tenant Ebony Carre woke up one morning to find that their neighbour’s boiler had flooded and leaked, leaving her ground floor under inches of water.
The incident happened at the end of May and has not yet been resolved, but Employment & Social Security director of operations Ed Ashton said that it worked with tenants to provide a range of options.
‘States Housing told us that we would have emergency temporary accommodation, and we should pack our things ready to move out during the first week of July,’ she said.
‘We’ve now been told that the house has already been allocated. We are living with our things packed up and the floor ripped out, but have now been told that the three-bed has been allocated to someone else.’
Ms Carre has been living in the property at Rue Au Pretre for four years, with son Renley, 4, and daughter Everleigh, 18 months old.
The skirting boards have had to be ripped out, and the sodden carpets pulled up.
‘We’ve lost everything. There’s no flooring, towels everywhere to try and dry it out, boxes with our things in to move out and I can’t let my daughter our her walker or buggy in case she injures herself on the concrete floor,’ she said.
‘All we want is a place to live, we’re not expecting a huge pay out.’
After notifying States Housing of the problem, she said it took hours before anyone turned up, and when they did they arrived with one dehumidifier.
Her neighbours with the flooded boiler were moved out before she heard anything about her living situation, she said.
The house is littered with boxes of belongings and bags of ruined items.
Ms Carre has children in primary school and pre-school and had wanted to be able to move before the schools broke up for summer holidays.
The family have now been offered alternative accommodation, but with a move-in date during August.
‘While it would not be appropriate to discuss the individual cases of our social housing tenants, we can say that in any case where there is flooding damage or a similar incident, we work with tenants to provide a range of options,’ said Mr Ashton.
‘This can involve providing alternative temporary accommodation or a transfer to another suitable property but given the high demand for social housing it is not always possible to do this immediately.
'We work quickly to ensure where a property is damaged, it is made safe and suitable to live in even though it may take longer to complete the full repairs.’
