Flooded Chard garden 'like Glastonbury on a bad day'

Charlotte Pike's garden and home have flooded three times during her pregnancy

A couple who claim their regularly flooded garden "looks like Glastonbury Festival on a bad day" are calling on their council to take action.

Chard in Somerset suffered "terrifying flash flooding" back in June after heavy rainfall.

Charlotte Pike and Luke Marshall said they are "constantly on edge" whenever it rains and their garden shows no sign of drying out.

Somerset County Council said it is launching a full investigation.

The severe weather in June left dozens of businesses and homes flooded and destroyed several roads.

Floodwater wrecked roads in Whitestaunton, near Chard, in June

Ms Pike, who gave birth to a new baby this week, said seeing their garden being flooded repeatedly, and their house once, was "very stressful."

Mr Marshall and Ms Pike say their garden has been flooded three times this year and their house once

Other home-owners have said that with winter approaching, they cannot wait for more investigations to take place.

Chard Town Council has now voted to set up its own local resilience group.

'Constantly on edge'

Ms Pike said: "Standing in the conservatory and not knowing whether my house is going to flood again is a pretty terrifying experience. I've had enough.

The fire service received calls for seven hours during the worst night of flooding in June

In June the water seeped into their house from the garden, reaching 0.6m (2ft) deep.

"I've never seen so much water in all my life," she said.

"My partner was out opening the gate and he couldn't stand in it .The force of the water was just relentless.

"We want to use the garden when the little one is here but at the moment it's more like Glastonbury Festival on a bad day."

Ms Pike said a public footpath at the back of their garden is overgrown, channelling water into their property.

'No simple answer'

Speaking on behalf of the council, cabinet member for highways John Woodman said he would look into their case "straight away".

"I know it's a really emotional, invasive and distressing thing to be flooded," he said.

He said the Environment Agency described June's flooding as "a once in 300 year event" and then there was further flooding in October with "no simple answer" to prevent it happening again.

"We're doing everything we can. We've been there since June, clearing up, repairing the roads, and now we are widening the investigation," Mr Woodman said.

Volunteers wanted

Liberal Democrat Mayor of Chard, Jason Baker, said about 70 residents came to a recent town council meeting "demanding work be done to stop this happening again".

"People are really angry and upset," he said.

"It happened once but to happen three times in three months, with little action, is really distressing for them."

The town council voted to set up a resilience group with a supply of sandbags, road closure signs and other materials for emergencies.

It is also looking for volunteer flood wardens to monitor drains and attempt to prevent flooding.