Residents facing fourth day without heat

ELDERLY residents facing their fourth day without central heating pleaded for action last night as the big freeze tightened its icy grip.

“We’re in dire trouble,” 69-year-old John Lane said. John lives in one of 12 bungalows in a local authority estate on Summer Hill, on the outskirts of Mallow in north Cork.

The freezing conditions have disrupted water supply to the estate every day since Christmas Day. But householders have been without water – and gas-fired central heating – for the last three days.