Environment apologise made over Wendlebury flooding

The Environment Agency has issued an apology for failing to warn residents in an Oxfordshire village about the risk of flooding.

Wendlebury Brook burst its banks after 33mm (1.3 inches) of rain fell in six hours on Thursday morning.

As a result houses and streets in the village were left underwater.

An agency spokesman said: "We failed to live up to the high standards we set for ourselves on this particular occasion."

The agency confirmed that both the flood alert and flood warning levels been breached overnight.

'Full of water'

Thursday's flooding was the second in the village this year.

Julian Cordy said the weather was the main problem but he was also concerned about the brook in the village.

He added: "It fills up very quickly. It backs up, the drains can't cope, the sewage comes out and as you can see it just runs off the land into the houses, on to the roads and into the gardens."

He said the proposed Graven Hill relief road near the village would make the problem a lot worse and villagers were fighting to prevent it happening.

Lesley Bond has lived in Wendlebury for 30 years. In the last 20 years she has been flooded eight times and is now unable to get insurance on her property.

She said: "I've never actually seen the village so full of water, it's gone further this time than ever."