Temporary housing for evacuated residents extended

The fire service were called to Mercia House at about 10:50 BST on Friday

Temporary accommodation for residents who were evacuated from a block of flats in Coventry after a major flood in the building will be extended "as a precaution".

Citizen Housing, which manages Mercia House, said a leak in the sprinkler system was to blame, with four floors of the 17-storey building directly affected.

To address the issue, both water and power were turned off at the site, further affecting residents and prompting the evacuation on Friday.

The firm said it would temporarily rehome residents, and Peter Gill, director of housing, care and support at Citizen Housing, said in a statement on Sunday that the arrangement would be extended until Friday.

Resident Pearl Miller has been moved into a hotel with her partner

Pearl Miller, who has lived in the building for more than 30 years, said she had been moved to the Hotel Ramada with her partner, but has requested a move to a room with a fridge as they cannot store his insulin.

She has also had to buy a number of items after she was unable to get them from her flat, due to the "strict" visiting rules.

Ms Miller said her partner had been able to return to her flat, but had to be guided by a worker for the housing company, and was only able to stay for 10 minutes.

"Citizen have just said that it's too dangerous to go in," she said.

"Whenever you ask Citizen when we can get back in, all they ever say is they can't say.

"I just wish they would tell us that we can't go back in for seven days, or whatever it is, so we all know where we're going."

Road closures were put in place on Corporation Street while the incident was dealt with

In a statement, Mr Gill said the "safety of our customers remains our top priority".

He added: "We've identified the source of the leak and are doing everything we can to get residents home as soon as possible.

"We're contacting all customers to let them know that once we've got the power and water back on, we'll be contacting them to arrange an appointment so we can check their home safely.

"We know this is not ideal for our customers, but we'll continue to support them in any way we can until we get them back into their homes safely."