Family to return home six months after Storm Babet

Sarah Jennings (pictured right) said her elderly mother-in-law's bedroom was ruined by flood water

A family are moving back into their home six months after floods from Storm Babet deluged the ground floor.

In October 2023, the River Amber in Derbyshire burst its banks, forcing Sarah Jennings, her partner, and her 91-year-old mother-in-law to move out.

The majority of their furniture, which the family was unable to transport upstairs, was destroyed by water that seeped in at ground level.

Ms Jennings, who only bought the property in Ambergate 11 months before the flood, said: "I can't wait to have the house back."

The family were initially told it could take up to 12 months to move back in

The family plans to move back in sometime next week.

Ms Jennings and her partner, Honor Porter, were helping their neighbours when they realised the floods had spread to their home too.

Ms Jennings said: "It was a shock. It was amazing to see how quickly water can come into your house and the power of it.

"We had to move out as my partner's mum can't get upstairs. Her room is on the ground floor, and all of her bedroom furniture was lost to water damage."

Their insurance company initially told the family they would need to stay in a hotel, but a friend came forward to rent out their bungalow.

Water flooded the ground floor of the house

Ms Jennings, a self-employed picture framer, works from her home studio in the garden and said she lost a "lot of income" in the first couple of weeks after the flood as she was dealing with "so many people".

She said: "The hardest part of the whole process was dealing with the insurance company, as they didn't seem to have the capacity to deal with the sheer number of people who were flooded.

"You would ring them and get no answer until two weeks later, and all that time, it prevents you from moving forward."

Ms Jennings says the repairs to the property have cost their insurance company nearly £50,000.

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