On New Year’s Day, torrential rain caused devastating flooding across Warrington and forced people to leave their homes.
One couple who found themselves in that situation were Anna and Peter Forrest, who have lived in their Dallam home for 16 years.
After the flooding, the ground floor of their home was damaged, and the pair were left without power.
Anna and Peter’s home was flooded on New Year’s Day (Image: Supplied)
“My house was two foot under water,” said Anna.
“The whole downstairs is ruined. I’m lucky I’ve got insurance, but having insurance doesn’t speed anything along. It doesn’t make the hurt go away, or the stress.
“We’re just getting over the one four years ago. You’re squeaky bum every time it rains round there but it’s a small price to pay for the house that we’ve got.”
Last Friday, Scottish Power attended the property and dug a hole in the ground in order to access the mains and help start to process of reinstating power.
However, when an engineer from E.on came to install a new meter, he said he could not complete the work due to health and safety concerns.
The hole was left after Scottish Power accessed the mains (Image: Supplied)
“The hole was probably up to my calf – I’m 5”3, I’m not massive,” said Anna.
“You can see in the pictures I can reach that perfectly fine. My beef isn’t necessarily with him, I completely understand that they have health and safety procedures. But he would have been perfectly safe.”
Anna, 41, suggested putting something solid across the hole, and even filling it with sandbags in order to help the situation, but the work was left unfinished.
When the couple did fill the hole with sandbags, they contacted E.on to try and arrange another visit, but were told no one would be sent due to health and safety concerns on site.
This left Anna and Peter, who currently have the flu, with no choice but to get a hotel, as temperatures dropped, and freezing weather conditions loomed.
Anna, 41, and Peter, 45 live in Dallam with their rabbit and six dogs (Image: Supplied)
“I have sent pictures after pictures saying it’s been filled but they say, ‘we’re not sending an engineer out to an unsafe environment’,” said Anna.
“But they’re happy for me to remain in an unsafe environment, living upstairs in a house that has been flooded with no heating, no gas, no electric, breathing in cold damp air when I already have the flu.
“They don’t know that I’m in a hotel, so in their eyes I’m still sat at home freezing. They have a duty of care to their workforce; I completely get that.
“I would never want anyone to endanger their life just for the sake of electric, but I have made it safe and it’s perfectly fine for someone to come and fit it.”
The hole has been filled with sandbags and covered to make the site safe (Image: Supplied)
While staying at the hotel, Anna and Peter had no choice but to leave their rabbit upstairs in their home and send two of their beloved dogs to stay with friends in Shrewsbury.
“We’ve had to come to a hotel because I’m so poorly with my chest and my husband’s poorly as well,” she said.
“We can’t stay there. We’ve had to leave one of our animals there and he’s going to end up poorly.
“Okay, so we haven’t got kids, so we’re not vulnerable or elderly – we’re the bottom of the list, no one cares.”
Anna and Peter were separated from two of the beloved dogs and had to leave their rabbit behind when they went to a hotel (Image: Supplied)
The Warrington Guardian contacted E.on for a comment on the issue and were told that the gas and electricity have since been restored.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to Mrs Forrest and her family,” a spokesperson said.
“The safety of our employees and customers is always a priority but we do understand that this was a frustrating situation.
“We have apologised to Mrs Forrest and can confirm that gas and electricity have been restored at her property.”