Serious flooding forces evacuation of sheltered apartments

Residents of a nursing home estate were forced to leave their homes overnight following flooding.

Part of the ceiling at Wollongong House in Corby, Northamptonshire, has collapsed.

Some of the residents were taken in by relatives, while others spent the night in a hotel in Wellingborough.

The local council said it was assessing the damage and providing assistance to evacuated people.

As first reported by the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, the flooding occurred at Wollongong House, a complex of 31 flats for elderly people.

One resident in his 70s, who did not want to give his name, told the BBC: “The fire alarm started going off at about 00:20 UK time, then stopped, then went off again.”

She added that the residents did not know if it was a real alarm or not but decided to leave the house.

It turned out that the ceiling in part of the building had begun to collapse, and water was leaking into the apartments on the first and ground floors.

The resident said: “People who had family or friends they could go to arranged to go and stay with them, a few people ended up in guest rooms in other sheltered estates and nine of us ended up in a hotel in Wellingborough.”

Mark Pengelly, Labor councillor for Lloyds, went to Wollongong House and said: “It looks like a tornado has gone through it.

“All the floor tiles are up, all the ceiling tiles are down, it smells damp and looks like a flood zone.”

He added that he had already reported the holes in the ceiling last week, but the residents told him that they had been informed that the problem had already been fixed.

Conservative North Northamptonshire County Council confirmed there had been “serious flooding” at Wollongong House.

The council added: “Emergency services and council staff safely evacuated all residents to alternative accommodation, either with family, friends or temporary accommodation. There were no reports of injuries.

“Our priority now is to assess the damage to property and provide support to those evacuated following the incident.”

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