Stannington: Engineers 'hopeful' last 200 homes to see gas supplies restored

Two hundred homes in Sheffield may have to wait until Monday night for gas to be reconnected after enduring 10 days without supplies in freezing weather.

Almost 2,000 homes in Stannington and Malin Bridge lost supplies when a 50-year-old water main flooded gas pipes.

Heavy snowfall on Sunday slowed down efforts to reconnect the last 200 homes still without supplies, network operator Cadent said.

Its engineers were "hopeful" they would be reconnected by Monday night.

Cadent spokeswoman Stephanie Van Rosse said on Monday most homes still affected were in Malin Bridge, where the firm was continuing to pump hundreds of thousands of litres of water from its pipes.

Ms Van Rosse said: "Yesterday we started at 8am but, because of the snow overnight, we had some challenges getting up the hill.

"Once the snow had melted more we were able to get our resources up there but we were a couple hours behind where we would like to be."

She said they need people to let engineers into their homes to carry out tests before they could be fully reconnected.

She said: "The aim is that, if people are at home, and we don't have any further water issues, we will get people back on gas today."

She said teams would be on site for a number of days to make sure they could access all homes.

The firm would have pumped about a million litres of water out of the network by the end of the operation, she added.

"It's frustrating for us because we have people there to get people back on gas but, because of the water, until that's all gone, we can't get gas back in there.

"We really appreciate the patience of people, specifically in Malin Bridge."

Alan Walker, who runs the village store in Stannington' said that although gas had been reconnected to his businesses, his home was still without a supply.

"It's affected us badly - we can't function," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"We have work to do at home, but we can't sit down at a computer and we can't get the Christmas tree down because it's just so cold.

"You can't understand how cold it is - it's minus 7.5C this morning."

Cadent said it had worked with Sheffield City Council to check on vulnerable people and Northern Powergrid had provided food trucks.

People have been given electric heaters and hotplates but families have been warned of overloading the local network.

Cadent is giving homes nearly £1,000 in compensation each, and offering businesses nearly £1,500. On top of this the water company is offering compensation to anyone who has had water damage in their homes caused by the burst main.

People can apply by filling out a form on Yorkshire Water's website or by calling the helpline on 01274 250555.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].