Scotter residents hit by flooding want Environment Agency action

Philip and Laura Calvert said they had had to take “drastic action” following flooding in 2019, demolishing their house and rebuilding it 1.7m (5.6ft) above ground level.

Although that means their home is no longer at risk, it has not made the suffering any easier.

Mrs Calvert said: “We took the drastic action of knocking it down and rebuilding at a really high cost to us just to protect ourselves because we have no confidence that anything is getting done to the river.”

She said her child had not wanted to go to sleep on Monday night because he was worried about the risk of their home flooding again.

“He was crying, saying he was going to drown in his sleep. Even though there’s no way now, he was still scared,” she said.

“There are elderly people on the street with health problems and you can see them every time it rains, at the windows, looking at the river and they shouldn’t have to live like that.

“We feel the Environment Agency thinks there is not enough properties here that it affects so they think it’s not worth their money and we are just left.”

The residents want the river dredged and maintained, and work to be carried out to the banks and drainage systems.