Engineers fixing huge gas failure in Witham visiting 600 homes to restore supplies
Engineers are having to visit 600 homes individually as they try to find out what has caused a loss of gas to part of a town.
Hundreds of homes at Witham in Essex were left without gas overnight on Thursday.
Gas company Cadent said engineers were going door-to-door to try to fix the problem in the King Edward Way area.
Around 60 homes have had their supply restored but most will have to wait until Saturday.
Cadent said it hoped all gas would be restored by Sunday
A spokesperson said engineers were sent out immediately when they heard about the problem on Thursday but could not work through the night.
People are being told they can have hot showers at nearby Witham Leisure Centre, and a mobile welfare unit has been set up on Allectus Way.
Ben Green from Cadent said: "[On Thursday] around 30 of our team attended the incident and began working to resolve the matter.
"Work ended for the night at around 10.30pm when we took the decision that residents would not want to answer their door past this time for our engineers to visit. We will be sending more of our engineers on to site today and work began at around 8am."
Cadent said before gas could be turned back on engineers would have to visit each home to make sure the supply was safely switched off.
The company has urged people not to try to turn the gas back on themselves, as it needed to be done by trained engineers.
It said all engineers would be carrying ID and it would be keeping residents updated, adding: "Naturally, we understand the frustrations that the lack of a gas supply will cause to residents.
"We thank everybody who is affected for their patience and understanding as we seek to carry out this work as safely and as quickly as possible.”
A dedicated incident site can be found at: https://cadentgas.com/loss-of-gas-supply-witham,-chelmsford
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