Ratby: Hundreds of homes still without heating after gas pipe floods

Locals queued to collect temporary heaters at Ratby Village Hall

Hundreds of homes are still without heating after a gas pipe was flooded by a burst water main.

More than 2,500 homes were left without heating in the Ratby area of Leicestershire on Tuesday morning.

One woman who lives in the area said her three-month-old baby was "shivering" due to the lack of heating.

Gas company Cadent said supplies had been reintroduced to some properties on Wednesday but some might not be restored until Friday.

More than 100 of the company's engineers are working to restore gas supplies to affected homes in Ratby and Kirby Muxloe.

Leicestershire Resilience Forum - a group of local councils and emergency services - declared a major incident on Tuesday and said staff and volunteers were in attendance.

Support centres where residents can access blankets, hot plates and fan heaters have been set up in both villages.

Cadent said almost 1,000 heaters had been given out to residents.

Two command centres have been set up while engineers work to restore supplies

Ozzy O'Shea, county councillor for Groby and Ratby, said the response to the outage had been an "absolutely massive community effort".

"We've really gone to town here," he said.

"I can't thank Cadent enough for the work that they've done to provide all the facilities for the community."

Richard Sansom, from the gas company, said: "Firstly I'd like to thank the local community for their support and understanding as we continue our efforts in the area.

"This afternoon gas will be going back on for other customers, we're going to have to wait another day or so to further understand exactly what we are doing."

Cadent believes a total of 2,652 properties have been affected.