'I can't bear living in my own home'

Council tenant Shamsun Choudhury said she "can't bear" living in her house

A family say they are still living in unbearable conditions four months after their home was hit by Storm Henk.

Shamsun Choudhury lives in a council house in Loughborough, Leicestershire, which was one of several submerged by flood water in January.

She said she "can't bear" living in the property any more and called for Charnwood Borough Council to offer more help.

The council said it accepted "communication in this particular case could have been better".

The family said they were given a dehumidifier two months after the flood

Mrs Choudhury, who has lived in Meadow Avenue for 27 years, said she had paid £850 for new laminate flooring four weeks before the house was flooded.

She says that so far the council has only offered the family new skirting boards.

The family said the humidifier they received only two months after the flooding is still extracting a bucket of water every two days from the living room.

"Five or six people came from the council," Mrs Choudhury said.

"They inspected everything and told us they're going to change the skirting board - nothing else.

"We have to do everything else ourselves."

'Depressing'

Following the flood, the family had to throw away some of their furniture, including Mrs Choudhury grandchildren's toys and toybox.

Her husband was also injured in a car crash, so she says the family are struggling to pay for the repairs.

"We are borrowing money from my son, they are giving us money to replace our flooring and for paint," she said.

"I don't want to come into the living room because it depresses me."

Charnwood Borough Council said "more frequent updates" should have been provided to the tenants of 37 of their properties were affected in the flood.

A spokesperson said: "We understand how upsetting and disruptive the flooding in January has been for council tenants whose homes were impacted and we accept our communication in this particular case could have been better.

"A surveyor visited and identified removal of skirting boards and wallpaper in the lounge and the kickboards in the kitchen."

It said the works would start this month before "carrying out some minor redecoration work".

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