A ‘frustrated’ dad fears his family is ‘back to square one’, after their home sustained flood damage for the second year in a row – and worries it will become an annual event.
Tom Wrightsays he feels ‘trapped’ after his Pointon family home was flooded due to heavy rain and extreme weather which hit the county earlier this week.
After being faced with a similar incident in 2024, Tom and his partner, Tanya Gibbins, now worry the house is not safe for their three and a half month old twin daughters, Mollie and Poppy.
The family home in Pointon
Tom and his partner woke up on Monday morning to discover their home was flooded. He said: “We had only just got sorted from the last flood and now we’re back to square one.
“Last time it was just myself and Tanya and we were able to deal with walking on bare floors and things like that. This time we have two young babies who will be wanting to crawl in three to four months time and we can’t provide a clean, dry and warm floor for them to sit on.”
The home has been damaged by the flood
The family, who live along High Street, have had their sofas, rugs, books and other bits of furniture damaged – including wooden flooring which Tom purchased to replace some previous flooring that was destroyed as a result of the flood last year.
He added: “As a result of last year’s flood, I made a point of buying solid wood furniture and things on legs and to not keep valuables downstairs.
“The most frustrating thing about it all is everyone who was affected by the flooding last year, had a consultation with the relevant authorities to decide where the cause of the problem is, and the council admitted it was its responsibility to dredge the ditches – but nothing is being done.”
Tom and his family
A report created by Lincolnshire County Council’s Flood Risk Team at the beginning of 2024, reveals LCC, South Kesteven District Council and the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board are all responsible for conducting further tasks to reduce flood damage to properties in the area.
Tom added: “It takes time to clear up after a flood and my worry now is if this becomes an annual event, the authorities can’t be taking a year to do anything about it.
“The people who are able to fix it don’t seem to be doing anything and the conclusion we’ve come to, is in the short term, no one is coming to help us.
The family had only just recovered from the previous flood in 2024
“No one will admit responsibility which means the turn around isn’t quick enough.
“Our daughters are having to stay at my parents’ house and my partner’s parents’ house for the short term as we want everything to be safe and clean for them.
“We did debate whether we should stay put or move but we’re basically stuck here. We don’t have a need to move and we love the area but if I’d had known this was going to happen, we probably wouldn’t have bought the house and I think we would certainly struggle to sell it.”
The majority of the furniture will need to be replaced
In response to the information provided in the flood report, Coun Richard Cleaver, who is the cabinet member for Property and Public Engagement, said: “South Kesteven District Council has revisited its historical maintenance programme with regard to the recommendation, in that we have extended our maintenance of the watercourse on West Road from 100m to 1,100m as of this year.
“The results of the investigations were received by SKDC in November 2024. We have a contract with Black Sluice to carry out the remedial work required, and this will be scheduled accordingly.
“Other watercourses in the immediate area, including a culvert under West Road, fall under the responsibility of other stakeholders, and we will liaise with them to advise what is required moving forward.
“We are sympathetic to anyone living in fear of flooding and this ongoing project, along with many others across the district, will go some way to alleviating this.”
A spokesperson for Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board said: “We can confirm we regularly monitor our systems with annual maintenance in relation to weed clearance and desilting as required. The annual maintenance, in this area, was completed in September 2024.”
Lincolnshire County Council have also been contacted for a comment.