The council’s property services teams have been dealing with around 100 housing emergencies per day since the extreme weather took hold on Friday.
The teams, based at Trostre in Llanelli, Cillefwr in Carmarthen, and Glanamman in Ammanford, have been helping to deal with burst and frozen water pipes, broken down boilers, faulty electrics and ceiling damage, all caused by the extreme sub-zero temperatures.
Almost 400 emergency calls have been attended to at council houses, and around another 40 at local schools (as at lunchtime 01/12/10).
They have also helped colleagues in the council’s Street Scene department to grit icy paths and roadways leading to school entrances where it has been requested.
One of the biggest emergencies they have dealt with was at Five Roads primary school, near Llanelli, which had to close on Monday due to its pipes bursting after an intensely cold weekend, causing water to bring down the ceiling and flood parts of the ground floor.
Phil Lumley, head of property services, said: “We had already prepared as much as we could have for the extreme drop in temperatures, shutting off water supplies in our empty properties and putting crews on standby in our 4x4s to deal with any emergencies.
“Unfortunately, some buildings – including some schools where the heating had not been used over the weekend – did suffer, and we have responded to these appropriately.
“We are working with colleagues in the Technical Services department to keep an eye on the weather forecasts so that we are prepared as much as possible.”
Advice given by the property services teams includes lagging external water pipes, draining any standing water and keeping the heating on a low setting when the property is unoccupied. Frozen drains can be cleared using warm water mixed with salt.
Cllr Hugh Evans, executive board member for property services, said: “The extreme weather has certainly kept our crews busy over the last few days. We hope that our advice proves helpful to tenants, and will help avoid any potential emergencies.”
Council tenants that have an emergency to report can contact Carmarthenshire Direct on 01267 234567, or the Careline team out of hours on 01558 824283.
