Council confirms arrangements for residents as burst pipe at Brisbane House requires evacuation

Thurrock Council has confirmed today (13 November) that it continues to support residents of Brisbane House while a burst water pipe's after-effects are dealt with. The council is assessing the damage following the flood late yesterday led to flooding throughout the block, meaning that residents are now either in temporary accommodation provided by the council or staying with friends or family.

Council teams have been working hard on-site from last night, right through today, making contact with residents to make sure they are safe, secure and have somewhere to stay while urgent works are done to fix the problem. Residents who have been housed in temporary accommodation have had their stay confirmed until early next week.

The leak means that residents are not able to access their homes, although the council is arranging to escort residents who need to collect urgent items such as medication.

The council has set up a dedicated reception and information centre at Tilbury Library and Community Hub, which will remain open to assist residents from 3pm until 6.45pm today and throughout the day tomorrow (Friday 14 November) from 10am until 4.45pm. This information hub will be staffed throughout and provides a single point of accurate information, advice and support for residents. As part of its support to Brisbane House residents, the council has reached out to organisations such as local housing associations, and the RSPCA for residents who have pets, and security has been put in place to keep the location secure.

Cllr. Mark Hurrell, Cabinet Member for Social Housing comments: "On behalf of the council, I want to apologise to residents of Brisbane House for the significant disruption they are facing while the council deals with this incident. Time is needed to assess the extent of any damage and to enable us to confirm when the building will be safe for them to return to.

"We're doing our best to make sure we have proactively contacted all residents - we have door-knocked on all flats, made calls and sent text messages to make sure that everyone is safe - and we can confirm that is the case.

"Our priority now is to support residents who have been displaced temporarily by what I appreciate must have been a shocking and scary experience. We have worked to get information and advice to those who need it in a way which responds to their needs. We'll continue to build on that as we grip the situation further and move to confirming as to when residents can expect to be able to access their homes again. If any residents are especially concerned about the future standard of their home, I encourage early engagement with our Housing team. We will provide further updates as soon as we can.

"In the meantime, I want to thank everyone involved in managing this urgent situation - including residents who have been patient and co-operative, our officer team who have worked overnight to keep people safe and our local partners and Tilbury Library and Community Hub for providing the space to set up our resident information centre."