BEING forced to leave your home and seeing your possessions – and the precious memories associated with them – lost and destroyed.

It is terrible to even imagine what that must be like but that was the grim reality for many people in Warrington.

Torus, the largest provider of affordable homes in Warrington, has been sharing its experience of the crisis and working around the clock when 86 of its tenant households were evacuated.

The company's housing and asset management teams were part of Warrington Borough Council’s emergency response team when flood warnings were raised on Wednesday, January 20.

Torus provided emergency shelter at hotels for 74 of the households affected and on Saturday and Sunday, 20 staff visited 500 homes to keep people in the loop, offer reassurance and ensure food parcels were delivered where needed.

Gill Healey, managing director of Torus Housing, said: “The floods have been unprecedented and had a devastating impact on entire communities across the borough.

“At times like these the power of community is incredible. There has been a huge outpouring of support from Warrington organisations, from neighbours, from the people of Warrington and from our own staff, who willingly sacrificed their weekends to help.

“As an organisation we understand the importance of having somewhere safe and warm to call home. Being forced to leave that home, having your possessions lost and destroyed has been incredibly difficult for our tenants but we have a dedicated team working with them to ensure that their homes are safe, repaired and habitable as soon as possible. This is now our priority focus.

“In the meantime, we are doing everything we can to make sure that everyone who has been affected has somewhere suitable to stay, food to eat, warm clothes to wear and support they can depend on.”

So far Torus, which has worked alongside Scottish Power, United Utilities and Cheshire Fire and Rescue, has completed 192 property inspections to put together an action plan for repairs and has offering support to any resident affected, regardless of if they are a tenant.

Torus Foundation – the charitable arm of the company – began sourcing urgent food supplies last Thursday, January 21, both for those who were remaining in their houses and those in temporary accommodation.

By working with Warrington businesses, the team fed around 350 people over three days as well as providing toiletries and clothing and emotional support for people devastated by the loss of their home.

Kate Shone, managing director of Torus Foundation, added: “The last few days has been a fantastic example of collaboration.

“When the news broke of the extreme flooding in Warrington, colleagues rallied round to help with provision for those unable to stay in their homes.

“Even under current Covid restrictions, teams successfully co-ordinated urgent supplies for more than a 100 people settling into hotel accommodation, organised donations and have been both preparing and purchasing enough food to cater for around 100 people each night.

“Foundation staff have also begun providing food parcels for those in the community requiring extra support.

“Today we saw 100 parcels being distributed and these numbers will change throughout the week.

“I’m not only proud of the dedication shown by the teams involved but from the wider community who quickly pulled together for one another.”

Torus also wanted to thank its commercial contractor HMS which took calls every night from affected residents and helped with the emergency evacuations.

HMS donated vans to get food to people and provided five gas engineers and five electricians over the weekend to check people staying at home would be safe.

So far the team have done 46 home safety checks and supplied 80 skips to remove damaged property.

Alison Brown, maintenance director at HMS, said: "In any crisis situation mobilising teams and getting people on the ground quickly and efficiently is critical. As an organisation with more than 600 specialist tradespeople we were in a position to support Torus from the outset.

"We put a call out throughout the workforce for support and were overwhelmed by the response from staff who immediately offered to help. Our scheduling and environmental teams, our electricians, our gas team and so many more.

"The work is far from done but we are proud to be involved and committed to helping ensure that each and every one of the affected homes is habitable but more importantly safe, clean and dry as soon as possible."