A COMMUNITY traumatised after a flood hit their street and damaged their homes will be spending Christmas apart this year.

Normandy Crescent residents in Cowley were devastated after a water main burst on September 23 for the second time in seven years.

Some have been placed in temporary accommodation and others, including an elderly couple, will now spend the Christmas period in hotels.

The tight-knit community, which was unable to return home for the festive season, have come together to exchange Christmas cards and gifts.

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Mother-of-three Kara Hayes said: “The children miss each other; they used to spend so much time together outside.

“It was nice to see everyone and it was good to see the kids all playing together.”

After the flood-stricken families were forced out of their homes they are now worried about moving back next year.

Mrs Hayes said after water flooded her ground-floor flat she often wakes to hear eight-year-old daughter Lola screaming at night in fear the water is coming into her room again.

She added: “I don’t want to go back there. Thames Water can’t guarantee it won’t happen again. It’s a horrible feeling.”

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Barbara Greenwood

Home owner Mandy Blessing, who is currently staying in temporary accommodation in Headington, said she was also beginning to have “serious concerns” about the pipe bursting for a third time.

The mother-of-two said: “Not only am I worried that in a few years this is going to happen again but I’m also really concerned about the valuation of my property.”

Mrs Blessing said it was “upsetting” they were unable to return home for Christmas.

The NHS senior administrator at Cowley’s Raglan House added: “The house is not ours and we have not decorated it as we would and we are not feeling it. It’s because we are not in our own home.”

Barbara Greenwood, 80, and husband Ernest, 87, will spend Boxing Day in a hotel after a Christmas Day with relatives.

The pair, who have been flooded twice, have been told they will be there until at least January 15 but are worried about moving back home.

Mrs Greenwood said: “It’s going to be in the back of our minds all the time. It’s too much for everybody to battle, through no fault of our own and yet we are having to go through it and suffer.”

Thames Water spokesman Stuart White said the firm would hold a meeting in January with residents to talk about how to prevent future bursts.

He said: “Our main priority since the burst has been to get people’s lives back to normal as quickly as possible.

“What happened here was horrendous and again we apologise. We will continue to work closely with the community and council.”

 

 

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