Star date: 6th January 2016

ELEVEN DAYS AFTER THE FLOOD SALIX SUPPORT CENTRE OPENS

Eleven days after the Boxing Day Lower Broughton flood, residents' questions are finally starting to be answered about the future of their homes, as Salix opened up a Support Centre on Heath Avenue.

But flood victims like Rebecca, who has a 14 month old baby, and volunteer Angela who has cleaned up around sixty houses, are furious about the situation in which people have been left...

Full details here...

Rebecca McKay was cooking a Christmas dinner on Boxing Day when her mum shouted from upstairs that the river was rising...

"I didn't believe her, and then we went outside and the water was pouring through the walls" she recalls "We ran in and moved our stuff but as we managed to pick the couch up the water just flooded in through the back door. We had no warning or anything. By the time we got out it was past our knees."

And by the time Rebecca returned after staying with friends on the first night, the downstairs was a swamp. With a 14 month old baby girl, she was left with no cooker, no fridge, no washer and not much else. Since then she's been put up in hotels; one a budget place where there was no kettle in the room to warm the baby's bottle, another too posh to afford to eat.

Yesterday, Rebecca was back in her house, with paper peeling off the walls, no flooring and damp rising, insisting that she's going to have to stay put, despite being offered a house on the Salix estate at Rainsough Brow in Prestwich.

"I would have to pay for gas and electric in both houses, and would have to decorate that house and then come back and decorate this house" she explained "I haven't got that sort of money...

"Besides, I don't want to move out the area, I've lived here for ten years" she added "We're just going to have to live upstairs because there's no way I'm moving to Prestwich, it's too far."

Her anxiety increased as no-one was giving any information... "We're just getting fobbed off, saying it will be another month before people come to see us" she said "They don't give us any answers. I don't want a hotel or another house, I want my home back. It's been ten days and not one person has been round to this house to assess the damage. I've been on the phone every day and asked for an inspector. I've had enough."

Around the corner from Rebecca's, volunteer Angela Barratt was masked up and cleaning 75 year old Madge's house. Angela had brought a fridge freezer, some stair coverings and an off-cut piece of carpet to make the damp, musky living room more, er, liveable.

Ten days after the Boxing Day flood, nobody in authority had been to assess the needs of Madge and her ill husband either. Angela, who has cleaned about sixty houses around the estate, had seen at first hand the limbo in which people were left.

"You phoned Salix and the Council and got redirected here and there, and while the red tape was going on nothing was being done" she said "The community have all come together and helped but other than that there's been little. I would have imagined that every council or housing association would have some emergency plan in place for things like this happening. This is a community disaster and a lot of people who live on here are elderly and they've had almost no assistance.

"Environmental or the public health department should be here getting things done" she added "There's contaminated water, maybe loose asbestos, rising damp...the repercussions are going to be bad for health. People haven't even got any flooring.

"I've got a friend in Stockport who runs a removal service, and between me and him we've managed to get bits of carpet and sheeting, basic essentials that people need" she said "But it's not happening from the authorities. Right now they should be giving out essentials...The £500 that people have got is a disgusting amount which barely covers people's needs. They have spent years getting their homes together and then it's been wiped by one event. The Government should give everyone at least £2,500 and David Cameron should come and face people."

Just as residents' patience was completely running out, Salix today opened a Flood Support Centre on Heath Avenue for `concerns or issues', and put out a Flood Newsletter on the estate, giving details of the "next stage of the recovery", promising that its team would be visiting every home... "Officers will be checking to make sure you are okay, your home is safe and offering any support we can to help after the damage caused by the floods..."

Salix also states in the newsletter that "We should soon have a number of dehumidifiers to help dry out the worst affected properties", would cover the cost of running them, and that "Once your home has been cleaned satisfactorily we will be looking to organise any repairs needed across all affected homes and our surveyors will start to visit properties in the coming weeks". The newsletter ends with a list of places to get cheap furniture and appliances, and the address of the local food bank.

Meanwhile, Salix has now told residents that work on the houses will take up to six months and while this is ongoing they can move in with family and friends, go to a hotel or move to alternative properties.

There's still lots of questions that residents need answering but today at least saw progress with the establishment of the Flood Support Centre and teams of inspectors beginning to tour the estate...

The Flood Support Centre is at the RITA Community House, 89 Heath Avenue, M7 1NY and will be staffed by Salix Homes officers from 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

To contact Salix phone 0800 218 2000 or see the website www.salixhomes.org/floods

Main photo by Steven Speed shows Rebecca and baby