Worcestershire man who built flood wall's relief as River Severn falls

Nick Lupton said building a barrier around his home was "the right thing to do"

A man who built a flood wall around his home said he was relieved to see the level of the River Severn drop after his wall's first serious test.

Nick Lupton, who lives between Worcester and Upton upon Severn in Worcestershire, also installed pumps at the former pub.

The area had flooded 11 times since 2016 but he said the recent floods were one of the worst yet.

He said building the barrier "was the right thing to do".

"We're into the recovery now, there's a few jobs to do, even though the wall's keeping it away from the house," the former engineer added.

"It's always a relief when the river goes down."

The property, part of which dates back to the 17th Century, was once the river ferry boat's inn and he and his wife, Annie, remortgaged it to pay for the wall all around their home.

It took them four months to build from last summer and it was ready to be tested when there was flooding in October.

Mr Lupton said it had been effective in keeping out the water this month as this was "a really good test of it".

Mr and Mrs Lupton said they were now cleaning up after last week's flooding

The flood barrier was built 30cm (12in) higher than the previous highest peak level for flooding at their home.

Mr Lupton's home was connected to dry land again after he was cut off for a week.

A BBC video of the flooding around his home has been viewed more than 30 million times.

Mr Lupton built the flood defences 30cm higher than the previous peak

Dave Throup, who worked for the Environment Agency for 20 years and now lectured on climate change and flood prevention, warned flooding could become worse in the future.

"The floods we get at the moment are getting more and more extreme, we've been within half a metre to a metre of the top of all of the flood defences now," he said.

"It's only going take one big event and we're going to see serious overtopping of all these flood defences."