As temperatures plummeted to -8C, Lynda Campbell went to bed fully clothed, wrapped in a dressing gown and her duvet. She feared the worst and hoped for the best.
After a pipe had burst in her loft, the 68-year-old was left without water and heating bar one functioning radiator in her bedroom, which also failed during the night. She is registered disabled due to arthritis and fibromyalgia, and lives on her own.
"It was very, very cold. It was awful to be honest. I did have heating but it was only for a couple of hours," said Lynda, who blames her housing association, Jigsaw, for 'very lax' maintenance.
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"It was colder than it was outside. I didn't get to sleep until 2.30am."
At about 2.30pm on Wednesday, a water pipe in the loft of her bungalow on St Anne's Road in Audenshaw burst and flooded the property, rendering her without water and almost no heating. Carpets and furniture and as well as her cooker and boiler were damaged.
Jigsaw sent an engineer who assessed the damage and turned off the water while an electrician came to turn off the power, said mum-of-six Lynda.
She survived the night but says she was unhappy when an engineer promised for 8am never arrived. Her furious son Scott went the housing association offices to complain, and in the afternoon a string of engineers came to the property.
Lynda, who has 13 grandchildren, said she was told the pipes were frozen solid the damage couldn't be fixed any time soon.
She told the M.E.N: "It's not just me. With New Charter (now Jigsaw) they are very, very lax doing anything about anything unless you really have a go. It's taken one of my children to phone them to get people to come out and sort it. I've been here ten years and the flood has ruined it. It's just a mess."
Asked where she would spent the night, she said: "I don't know. They've not told me where I'm staying tonight. They are expecting to relocate me into a hotel for the next three weeks, which I don't want to do.
"This is my home. It's not the same, living in a hotel room. But I can't live here. I'll freeze to death. It's colder indoors than it is outdoors."
Her son Scott, 35, said: "She was promised a visit at 8am but that didn't happen. I had to go down to their offices to kick up a fuss.
"Since then we've had engineers and a surveyor. The condition of the property is uninhabitable at the moment. The burst pipe has been fixed the but the rest of the pipes are frozen solid."
On Thursday evening, Lynda said electricity had returned to one room although there was still no heating. She confirmed she had turned down hotel accommodation as she was not allowed to take her pet dog Bailey with her. Instead, she said she would be spending the night at a relative's home.
Mathew George, operations director of asset management at Jigsaw Homes Group said: "We understand how upsetting this would have been for Mrs Campbell.
"Unfortunately long periods of freezing temperatures can cause water pipes to freeze and burst.
"We acted as quickly as we could when the burst pipe was reported, sending an electrician and a heating engineer to complete an emergency repair.
"We are already repairing the damage caused by the leak so Mrs Campbell can return home as soon as possible, and we have arranged for her to stay in a nearby hotel until this is done."
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