COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The fire service were called to Mercia House at about 10:50 BST



A block of flats in Coventry was evacuated after a major flood in the building, with displaced residents moved to the city's Central Library.

Citizen Housing, which manages Mercia House in the city centre, said a leak in the sprinkler system was to blame, with four floors of the building directly affected.

West Midlands Fire Service said it was called to the 17-storey block at about 10:50 BST.

To address the issue, both water and power were turned off at the site, further affecting residents and prompting the evacuation, Citizen Housing confirmed.

A road closure was in place on Corporation Street as emergency services dealt with the incident.

West Midlands Police and National Grid were also in attendance at the scene, the fire service confirmed.

Kerri Pritchard, a resident who lives on the fifth floor, was one of those told to leave the building.

When she spoke to the BBC she was waiting to go back inside to collect her dog, Joe.

"I don't know when we'll be able to go back in, but there is support available from Citizen [Housing] and the council, so we will be looked after," she said.

Ms Pritchard described how she was at work when she got a text from her landlord to tell her there was a "major leak".

"I've been told there was a water leak in the sprinkler cupboard," she said.

"And the water filled up quite high in the cupboard and it's all flooded downstairs into several flats, affecting four floors."

The fire service said crews had worked to isolate supply and stem the flow of water.

Head of repairs at Citizen Housing David Polhill said: "Due to the escape of water, we have had to turn the water and power off for a period of time, which has resulted in the need for us to temporarily rehome residents as we fix the problem.

"We hope this will be resolved as soon as possible and we will continue to keep our customers fully updated."

Tiana Russell, assistant manager at Putt Putt Social Coventry nearby, told the BBC they were informed of a leak at about 10:30 BST.

"Somebody came in and told us there was a burst pipe and that there was a leak," she said.

Ms Russell said they were told they had to evacuate all the customers from the premises about an hour later.

She said it had been "very disruptive" and the business was going to lose a lot as a result.

"So we had to get all the customers out... We evacuated the premises and got everybody out, issued them refunds, gave them gift vouchers," she explained.

Flood evacuation blamed on 'freak accident'



A flood at a tower block which left residents in temporary accommodation was a freak accident, a housing association said.

Four floors of the 17-storey Mercia House in Coventry were affected by the leak with both water and power turned off so the issue could be solved.

The building was evacuated with 63 households having to move into temporary accommodation while others chose to stay with family or friends, Peter Gill, from Citizen Housing said.

The director of housing, care and support added: "It's a freak accident. At the moment what we need to do is to do some further investigations."

Colin and Karen McGrory, who have lived at Mercia House for more than 35 years, described how they had to leave the building without warning.

Mr McGrory said the lift looked like "Niagara Falls" and he could hear the gushing sounds below.

He phoned his wife, who was on shift at the hospital and she came back from work but was not allowed in.

Mr Gill said a sprinkler joint had become detached and caused the flood.

"The joint seems to have fractured. We don't quite know why that's happened but at the moment our focus is trying to get the building back up and running so we can get people back home," he said.

"The issues around why people can't stay in the building is because the emergency lighting has been affected and the sprinkler system isn't operational.

"It's a high-rise building. The fire brigade has told Citizen that people can't live there."

Power had since been restored but further work was needed to the block's emergency lighting, lifts and the sprinkler system, Mr Gill added.

"We hope to have all that completed by Wednesday," he said.

Another resident said the eighth floor was "like a swimming pool".

The man, who asked not be named, said people could not open the door to the sprinkler room because of the pressure of the water.

He added the flood went through the building "like a waterfall" and residents were at first sent to the library, sitting there for "about six hours" until the Red Cross came.

"In five minutes, they were ticking off and everybody was disappearing into hotels," he said.

"I think most of us are at the Ramada now and they keep coming in every day."

Mr Gill said a sprinkler joint had become detached and caused the flood.