ALL of the Andium tenants forced to flee their Grands Vaux properties during major flooding earlier this year have returned – or been found alternative accommodation – after some spent months living in hotels.
Almost 60 households were evacuated on 17 January when torrential rain overwhelmed the area’s drainage system and caused severe flooding in several locations.
The majority of those who had been displaced were able to return home once the water had cleared, but others needed to stay in hotels, with friends and family, or be provided with alternative Andium accommodation while repair work was carried out.
This included five households who spent between 15 and 22 weeks in a hotel.
Repairs to make the worst-affected homes – around 17 properties – habitable again have since been completed, with the exception of some gardening work.
Andium Homes spokesperson Zöe Hibbs said that all households had now either returned to their properties at Grands Vaux, or been found alternative permanent accommodation within the housing provider’s portfolio – with seven of the refurbished units to be re-let as a result.
‘All affected homes have had extensive refurbishments and redecoration, including but not limited to: new floors with bitumen damp-proof membranes below the new screed floors, new doors and new electrics which allow all ground floors to be isolated in the event of any future flood event.
‘This, together with new flood barriers, will help make the properties more resilient to future floods,’ she said.
‘We continue to work with the Government of Jersey and Jersey Water in respect of planning for future flood events and will be consulting further with our residents as and when a revised Grands Vaux flood plan is published.’
Kerry Goguelin, who launched a petition calling for the government to produce and publish a ‘flood response action plan’, said she had spent around six weeks living in hotels during her time away from home, as well as staying with friends and family.
She said she had been able to move back into her Pillar Gardens property in April, describing the current situation as ‘brilliant’.
‘It was a bit of a nightmare at first, but it’s alright now we are out the other side of it,’ she said.
However, she stressed that the campaign for long-term anti-flood measures to be implemented was still important.
‘Something needs to be done, because we can’t go through this again,’ she explained.
