LOCALS have slammed a lack of action from Yorkshire Water after a burst water main caused ‘devastation’ at the weekend - leaving residents’ homes flooded and cars damaged.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the water main burst on Wakefield Road with residents describing the scene as like a ‘tsunami’.
Locals contacted Yorkshire Water at 5am but it took hours for the firm to take action.
In the meantime, there was serious damage to residents’ homes and one man - Mark Trueman - said that a number of his fish have subsequently died.
He said: “They were told at 5am on Saturday morning by numerous people and they first person to arrive was at 8.30am.
“If they’d have turned it off within that hour we wouldn’t have had this problem.
“I’ve lost four or five fish at the minute but I’m going to lose more.”
Lisa Daniels, also of Wakefield Road, contacted councillor Jayne Hulme for assistance.
She says the previous council did not want to help with the numerous incidents that have occurred, particularly since the Lidl was built.
Lisa added: “We’ve had more flooding since they built Lidl in 2019 and the previous council did nothing about it.
“They washed their hands of it.
“Every time they came to look the water had receded and so nobody was taking responsibility for it.
“This is the devastation that has now been caused with the lack of responsibility.”
Councillor Hulme told the Chronicle that residents have told her they fear a similar incident could happen again.
She added: “I was contacted on Saturday morning by Lisa who asked me to attend to see the devastating water main burst.
“The burst was first reported at 5am but Yorkshire Water didn’t attend until hours later and then finally the water was turned off at approximately 10.20am.
“This could have been prevented if Yorkshire Water would have attended when it was first reported by numerous residents.
“By this time the wall holding the water back had collapsed and surged like a tsunami through the rear of the properties causing all the damage that continued onto Clifton Avenue behind.
“Two garages have been moved from their footings and rear driveways have been completely lifted - not to mention the water damage in the properties.
“This is not the first time this has happened, but obviously not to this devastation.
“There have been problems since Lidl has been built.
“Residents are extremely concerned about what is going to happen if 500 houses are built further up Wakefield Road.
“I urge residents to contact Yorkshire Water with details of damage to their property, vehicles and garages.”
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson told the Chronicle: “We experienced a burst on our clean water network at Wakefield Road, Barnsley on Saturday, which caused some flooding to nearby properties and gardens.
“Our team attended the burst as quickly as possible and were able to locate the damaged main and complete a repair.
“Our customer response team made two separate bottled water drop offs at 19 properties that lost supply, beginning with customers on the priority services register.
“We also had two dedicated customer service representatives on site and our specialist cleaning contractor, Service Master, were also deployed to assist with the clean-up.
“We understand incidents of this nature are distressing for customers and apologise for the inconvenience caused.
“We will be working with the customers impacted to assist them in rectifying any damage caused.
“A case worker has been assigned as a direct contact for affected customers to assist them with any claims or ongoing issues related to the burst.”
