Woman flooded out of home tells of ‘half my life sitting on drive’

A LEICESTERSHIRE woman claimed her bungalow was so badly flooded in January that she had to move out and live in temporary accommodation.

She said it had been nine weeks since it happened, and the water and contamination has affected her whole bungalow.

Her “furniture, carpets and flooring” have all been damaged, she said. She told the Mercury she returned home during the clean-up and saw “half her life sitting on her drive”.

She added she has lost a lot of her possessions and her “whole life has been turned upside down”.

The pensioner, who is in her seventies, did not wish to be named, but wanted to raise the issue as she felt the problem was getting worse and wondered if the sewers and drains were “fit for purpose”.

She said: “This [experience] has left a really nasty taste in my mouth.

“I worry if we have another deluge is this going to happen [to my home] again?

“Last time I had to go to the house, I was sitting on my driveway in my car, with half my life sitting on my drive.”

She claimed the January floods, which happened during Storm Henk, were the second time she has been hit.

The pensioner, who lives off Station Lane, between Thurnby and Scraptoft, said she called Severn Trent in October 2023 when a “sewer gully” in her drive flooded and the bungalow was “surrounded by rainwater”, but the water did not go inside her home.

She said Severn Trent came out, did the clean-up and she was happy with their response.

On Tuesday, January 2, she said the overflow from the sewer flooded again, but this time it came into her home.

She claimed her furniture, carpets and flooring were all contaminated by sewage.

Severn Trent told the Mercury they could not find any evidence of sewer flooding during the October visit, although they noted there had been a high level of rainfall as a result of Storm Babet.

In January, they said they returned during Storm Henk and believed the flooding was due to the high rainfall and the brook at the back of the property bursting its banks.

The woman said she has asked Severn Trent what they are doing long-term about the flooding issue.

She claimed she has had a letter from them not addressing the complaint but refunding 50 per cent of the annual sewerage charges as a “gesture of goodwill”.

She also raised concerns about how Severn Trent handled the January clean-up.

She said she rang Severn Trent on January 2 when the water seeped into her home and they promised they would be out the next day sometime before 10pm.

When she asked how they would be able to clear it in the dark, she claimed they assured her they would have spotlights.

By this time, the woman had already moved out of her home due to the flooding.

So when she got a call at 7.30pm on January 3 to say Severn Trent would be there in 30 minutes, she went back to the property and met the crew outside.

She claimed it was at that point she discovered they did not have spotlights, but instead used the headlights on their truck.

However, when it came to cleaning at the back of the house, she claimed they had to resort to using the lights on their mobile phones.

She said the clean-up took them half an hour, and when she inspected their work the next day, they had done a reasonable job.

Alex Cooney, regional waste team manager at Severn Trent, said: “A team attended this customer’s property in October and couldn’t find any evidence of sewer flooding on that occasion, although there had been a high level of rainfall as a result of Storm Babet.

“We returned in January during Storm Henk and believe the flooding they experienced was due to the brook at the rear of the property bursting its banks due to the heavy rainfall and was not related to any issues with the local sewer network.

“Despite this not being an issue with the Severn Trent network we know how distressing any kind of flooding can be and our crew carried out a basic clean-up as a courtesy for the customer.”