Residents in Trinidad Close were awoken at approximately 4am on Friday, December 27 to water streaming down the road after a water main located on nearby Chineham Lane, burst.
Peter Wootton, who lives on the street with his wife, two daughters and dog, described being woken up by a knock on the door from his next-door neighbour who was up playing Monopoly.
READ MORE: Flooding: 50 homes evacuated after burst water main wakes residents from sleep
Peter Wootton with Elsie, Evelyn and cockapoo Roxy (Image: NQ)
The neighbour urged Peter to check his front room which he found filling up with water from a gap in the wall.
The 35-year-old said he scrambled to grab Christmas presents for his seven-year-old daughter, Evelyn, and three-year-old daughter, Elsie, that had been left unwrapped on the floor.
He added: “My sofa was submerged and all of the carpet was ruined. The water was squirting out of the hole in the wall like a hosepipe.”
Peter’s house was one of the 50 evacuated by fire crews from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, supported by police and emergency planners from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
However, Peter said he was concerned about evacuating the property as standing in the cold would likely trigger his asthma and other autoimmune conditions.
He said: “We didn’t have anywhere to go. We were meant to be going to my wife’s mother’s but we couldn’t get there as the road was initially closed in both directions.
“I had to send my kids and wife to the bus stop where her mother picked them up whilst I stayed at home with the dog, trying to clear up the water.”
The resident, who works for a company teaching mechanics to carry out MOT services, said the ordeal was ‘quite scary’ and turned his daughter’s Christmas’ into a ‘nightmare’.
He continued: “Four days later and we still don’t know whether the water is contaminated. We’ve been told it’s going to be two weeks before the water can be cleaned from our garden.
“We have a dog so two weeks without a garden really isn’t ideal. We feel like we’ve been left disregarded because we own the house.
“We haven’t been offered anything and we have just been left with a dehumidifier for two weeks.”
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(Image: Peter Wootton)
Peter’s 77-year-old dad was also affected by the burst water main, as he was left without water at his home in Sherborne St John, leaving him to rely on deliveries from Sainsbury’s supermarket for clean water.
Peter wasn’t the only one affected by flooding, as another resident on the close was left with thick mud running through their lounge.
The resident, who asked not to be named, said flooring bought just six weeks prior had to be fully stripped, as well as the damaged sofas and other furniture.
“My husband has had to take time off work and we were supposed to have family round for New Year’s Eve, because of the flooding, that’s all been cancelled,” she concluded.
Distribution Manager for South East Water, Gavin Jobling, said: “We’re working with customers at 27 properties affected by the flooding following the burst main in Basingstoke.
“At this stage, we’re working to dry out these properties before we can begin to process the insurance claims. We are very sorry to all customers affected by this.”