Firefighters had to be called to a Coventry tower block on Thursday morning to deal with severe floods.
A number of flats in William Batchelor House, in Leicester Row, near the Canal Basin, suffered a deluge of water at about 5.30am.
Residents on the upper floors have been left with leaking ceilings and pools of water on the floor.
One 67-year-old resident who lives on the 16th floor of the building, who gave his name only as John, said: “I wasn’t in but my wife, Sheila, was asleep when she was woken by the fire alarm going off, because water had got into it.
“She heard all this noise and there was water everywhere – the place was absolutely flooded.
“She woke up the neighbours, and they had the same problem.
“We had our electricity turned off.”
John believes that contractors who have been working on the site are to blame for the faults in the water system.
Ten firefighters spent more than an hour pumping the water out of the building, reporting ‘severe flooding’ on the building’s roof.
Staff from Whitefriars housing association, which manages the block, are helping to mop up the rest of the water.
John said: “I’ve got pairs of shoes that have been damaged, and I dare not open the wardrobe.
“I’ve got expensive suits, sports jackets and everything in it.
“I can see the water has come through the wall behind it.
“I have some collector’s editions of Beatles records that have been ruined, and my printer isn’t working anymore.
“We’re going to have to throw a lot away.”
*Whitefriars have been tarting up the exterior of all the tower blocks they own in the city in an effort to make them more desirable to live in.
The interiors however remain the same along with the social problems.
