Severn Vale Housing Society

Letter sent on 3rd August 2007 to all affected Severn Vale Customers

This week we have been surveying all of the properties affected by the floods. If we haven’t been to your property yet, we will by the early part of next week. If we have visited and missed you, please contact our surveying team on 01684 272727 to arrange a convenient appointment. Our latest estimate is that 95 homes were flooded to a greater or lesser degree.

Also, we have met again with our insurance company representatives and clarified a few points with them. Following that meeting I accompanied them on a tour of some affected properties so they could estimate the value of the claim.

I must stress how important it is that wet carpets are removed as soon as possible from flooded homes. I accept that many people are still awaiting visits from their contents insurers, but as soon as this happens, please remove all wet floor coverings. If you have difficulties arranging this, please contact us as we are still offering the “Helping Hands” service detailed in my last letter.

Tewkesbury Borough Council is running a service to remove damaged contents from the kerbside and you should telephone the council offices on 01684 295010 to arrange removal. As you might imagine, this service is very popular at the moment, so please be patient yet persistent when you make the call.

We have a supply of de-humidifiers, which we will deliver to your property when you let us know carpets have been removed. These are powered by electricity and are quite expensive to run, so we have agreed with our insurance company that we will reimburse you at £5.50 per day when your home has finally dried out. If you have difficulty in meeting this cost up front, we can help you. It is very important that you do have these de-humidifiers in your home to avoid future problems.

As many homes were flooded by unclean water, we have employed a specialist company, ABComplete Pest Control, to visit all Severn Vale properties to sanitise them. They will contact you directly to arrange access.

At the moment we don’t know the full extent of work required to all our properties, but it is inevitable that some people will not be able to live in their homes whilst extensive repairs are carried out.

If people can’t make temporary arrangements, we know that the popular choice is they wish to remain close to their home. If this has to happen, we are looking at ways of providing mobile homes/caravans on driveways to minimise disruption. When I have a clearer picture of this, I will contact you again.

Yours sincerely,

H. R. Aldridge

Executive Director