KentOnline

bannermobile

News

Sport

Business

What's On

Advertise

Contact

Other KM sites

CORONAVIRUS WATCH KMTV LIVE SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERS LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS LISTEN TO KMFM
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
News

Elderly couple trapped in house following flooding in Hoo

By: Katie May Nelson, local democracy reporter knelson@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 11:47, 07 August 2019

Updated: 15:50, 07 August 2019

Water supplies in more than 700 homes have been affected after a water main burst.

One woman woke this morning (Wednesday, August 7) to find her garden completely flooded and her in-laws trapped in their annexe.

Sharon Jackson, who lives in Jacobs Lane, Hoo, discovered the flood at 7.30am this morning.

The flood surrounding the granny annex (14898195)

She raised the alarm with Southern Water as the flood had reached the door of the granny annexe in her garden where her in-laws Eileen, 90, and Bill, 94 live.

As of this morning, the couple were still trapped in the upstairs bedroom.

mpu1

One woman woke this morning (Wednesday, August 7) to find her garden completely flooded and her in-laws trapped in their annexe.

Sharon Jackson, who lives in Jacobs Lane, Hoo, discovered the flood at 7.30am this morning.

She raised the alarm with Southern Water as the flood had reached the door of the granny annexe in her garden where her in-laws Eileen, 90, and Bill, 94 live.

As of this morning, the couple were still trapped in the upstairs bedroom.

Sharon Jackson says raw sewage was floating in the garden (14898199)

Sharon, who lives with her husband Paul and daughter Rachel in the main house, said: "It's gradually getting nearer and nearer.

"Bill and Eileen are stuck in the upstairs bedroom and there are no toilet facilities.

"Paul's mum and dad are getting older and older and they are shut upstairs. They will probably be shut upstairs for the rest of the day.

Sharon's mother and father-in-law were trapped in the granny annex (14898193)

"We can't open the door because if we do, all the water's going rush in.

mpu2

Since contacting Southern Water, engineers have attended Sharon's house to dredge the garden.

Sharon and her family have lived in Jacobs Lane - which is close to the industrial estate where the decommissioned Kingsnorth Power Station is - for 14 years and this is the third time they have experienced flooding.

The last time it happened, Southern Water paid the family compensation and arranged for a deep clean.

She said: "Our septic tank is now underwater, we have raw sewage in the back garden.

"If they had shut it off at 8am, it wouldn't have happened, but they don't want to because the pipe feeds the industrial estate.

"They have told me to claim on the home insurance but I'm not claiming on our insurance because that would mean our house is uninsurable.

"It's just one of those situations that never get sorted. It's not a problem they don't know about.

"It's just the shock of waking up and finding your house flooded again."

Some have also experienced a loss in supply and bottled water is being handed out to vulnerable residents.

Southern Water spokesman Lewis Brown said: "We’re aware of a burst 15” water main in Stoke Road, High Halstow, and our crews are currently on site to investigate further.

"We are working closely with our customers who’ve experienced flooding from the burst, and will be carrying out a full clean-up.

"We will also have teams on site to update customers on our work and we’ll let you know where they’ll be shortly.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to thank those affected for their patience while we work as quickly and safely as possible on this emergency.

"We're doing all we can to support our vulnerable customers and others who may be impacted, delivering bottled water where required, and our incident vehicle is now also on site as a contact point.

"Up to 750 properties were affected initially, but this number is likely to be less now our repair works are underway."

"Please keep checking our online pages for more details."

Read more: All the latest news from Medway

Read more

sticky

© KM Group - 2024