Living in fear - a year on from Storm Babet

Worries about another flood are ever-present, said Peter Lewis

A year after Storm Babet wreaked havoc across England, residents of a South Yorkshire village live in fear of a repeat flood.

"It's been a nightmare to be quite honest," said Peter Lewis, reflecting on the 12 months since Storm Babet left his home under 5ft (1.52m) of water.

He didn't have insurance for flooding when the storm struck his home, and hundreds of others, in South Yorkshire in October 2023.

The quotes at the time for his property in Catcliffe in Rotherham - an area prone to flooding - were out of reach, he said, with premiums of up to £2,500.

Through legislation and a scheme called Flood Re to bring down costs for people in flood-prone areas, Peter now has insurance for flooding and has paid about £500 for it. But he said the fear of another flood is never far from his mind.

Home and vehicles were wrecked by floodwater in Catcliffe

"It's not a case of if we will flood again, but when," Peter said.

Catcliffe flooded in 2007 and also in 2019. After Babet hit the area a year ago, some residents had to move out of their damaged homes and into caravans.

Fellow residents echo Peter's fears about a repeat flood, fuelled by what they felt had been a lack of action to better protect the area.

Rotherham Council and the Environment Agency were at a public meeting last month to speak to residents about a report into Storm Babet, covering how it swept through Catcliffe and other areas, and their ideas to reduce flooding.

The latter included plans for a new pumping station, to replace the use of portable pumps, but the cost would be millions of pounds, and a way of footing the bill for it hasn't been found, said both authorities.

Some residents are repairing their homes themselves

Another resident of California Drive, Simon Robinson, decided to take a lump-sum payout from his insurance company and do some of the repair work on his own home and that of his daughter nearby, who was also flooded.

"It was just devastation. Then dealing with insurance companies, loss adjusters, it's been a nightmare for some people," he said.

"Some builders appointed by insurance companies are not turning up, people don't know when they're coming back, they don't know what they're doing and they don't know what they're entitled to."

There are fewer families living in caravans outside their homes in Catcliffe now, but some people are still not able to return to their flood-damaged houses.

One of them, Donna Coleman, said: "It's been that long now I think I've just got used to it, living in a caravan."

'Can never replace'

As to the future, the council said it was investigating three potential options to reduce the risk of flooding, having already invested £5m in flood alleviation this year.

Long-term solutions could include increasing defences around Catcliffe and Treeton Village, and altering the bridge on Treeton Lane to improve the flow path of the Rother, said the council's director of environment and regeneration, Andrew Bramidge.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency said it was exploring potential options such as upstream storage, changes to pinch points, such as the bridge, and raising current flood defences.

For Peter Lewis, the expectation of another flood in Catcliffe is always in the back of his mind.

"It's affected my health, it's affected my wife's health. It's purely stress, we've had flood warnings recently, and even though you're insured you don't think 'oh good, I'm insured', because the stuff we've already lost we can never replace. It's just been horrendous."

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