A Sunderland housing association has apologising to tenants for a delay in carrying out repairs after seeing record calls following storm damage to homes over the weekend.
Storms Malik and Corrie wreaked havoc across the region, leading to power cuts, train and Metro cancellations and significant damage to properties.
Gentoo were already dealing with a backlog of jobs on the back of Storm Arwen back in November last year.
Go here for more Sunderland news and updates from Sunderland Live
Now, the housing provider says it received a record number of phone calls on Monday (January 31) with almost 3,000 tenants getting in touch requesting repairs.
Chief executive officer at Gentoo Group, Nigel Wilson, said: “Storm Arwen caused a huge amount of damage, and we were already dealing with an unprecedented number of repairs caused by the storm. We were doing everything we could to carry out those repairs for tenants as quickly as we possibly could.
“Unfortunately, the severe weather at the weekend has caused further damage to properties right across the city, and in many situations, existing damage has been made worse.
“We are working as hard as we can to re-prioritise repairs that need to be made safe in an emergency.
“The large number of tenants attempting to contact us after the weekend was a record number, and this has resulted in longer than usual wait times on our telephone lines.
“We also know that some tenants are waiting for repair work to be carried out following Storm Arwen and we are contacting those tenants to reassure them the repair is in hand.
“We apologise for any delays tenants are facing and would like to assure tenants we are doing everything we possibly can do carry out these repairs.”
Gentoo had asked tenants on Monday morning to only contact them in an emergency.
The group is in the process of assessing the latest damage that has been reported by tenants since the weekend, with repairs being re-prioritised in an emergency.
Gentoo had drafted in additional support following Storm Arwen, with several external contractors appointed to help it carry out repairs caused by the storm as quickly as possible.
However, it says a global shortage of building materials has impacted on how quickly some of these repairs can be carried out.
Gentoo has a list of repairs which it determines as an emergency, which tenants can see by visiting the Gentoo website, here.
