Residents in Oxfordshire 'left in the lurch' as flooding leaves homes ruined

A woman from Woodstock in Oxfordshire has described the 'devastating' moment she was left watching helplessly as seven inches of water flooded her home.

Debi-jo Milner is one of many residents in the market town who has been forced out of her home as parts of the Thames Valley saw more than a month's worth of rainfall yesterday.

There is currently a yellow weather warning in place for the whole of the south east of England, including Oxfordshire.

The Met Office says further rain is forecast over the next 48 hours, and given the recent very wet weather, this will bring the potential for further flooding and disruption.

Debi-jo was alerted to the floodwater by the person staying in her air b n b lodge next to her property.

Speaking to ITV Meridian Debi-jo said: "I knew it was heavy rain, but I didn't think it was that bad.

"I opened the door and torrential rain was coming down the slight incline, but all to my house, so we went in, and it was just coming in the doorway, but it was coming through the walls as well.

"I've got handfuls of towels and sheets and bedding, and we were trying to mop it up, but as soon as we mopped it up, it was coming up again, and then it was getting higher and higher."

• Debi-jo Milner describes efforts to stop the flood water coming into her home

Debi-jo said with the help of her neighbours, she spent a whole day trying to save the property.

"We tried to save the house," Debi-jo added. "We put diversions to make the rain come down the side of the house into the garden so it would soak away, but nothing was soaking away.

"We've been making our own sandbags trying to save the house, and lifting stuff upstairs, but there was nothing more we could do.

"I thought we'd saved the house, but at half past midnight, I heard this gurgling sound, and I looked and it was coming up through the floor, and within 20 minutes, the whole of the floor, the entire floor was covered."

Debi-jo had the extra property built three years ago after retiring, but now says she feels like she has lost her livelihood.

"It's my home, everything. It's just all gone in a split second. I can't believe it."

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry that Ms Milner has experienced internal sewer flooding at her home and appreciate just how unpleasant and distressing this can be.

“We have seen an exceptional amount of rain across our region in recent days, including in Woodstock, which has put huge pressure on our sewers. Our engineers attended Ms Milner’s home on Monday and Tuesday to investigate and have since confirmed that the sewer flooding was caused by the heavy rain.

“Once the water recedes, a dedicated Customer Representative will work with her to arrange for our specialist contractors to complete an in-depth clean up. We would encourage any customers impacted by sewer flooding to contact us on online or by phone and to engage with their home insurers.”

Meanwhile people in Abingdon have also beared the brunt of the heavy rain, with some residents also being forced to leave their homes.

Denise Fitzgerald was watching the surface water on a nearby field, but before long it was gushing into her home.

"Within a couple of hours it was just everywhere," she said.

"Obviously the drains are full and there's nowhere for the water to go, then all the toilets are backing up with all the sewage and there's nothing we can do.

"The sandbags just don't stop anything.

"The fire brigade were here last night and they were brilliant - really there's nothing they could do either but they were there and they were there to support us.

"They helped with the elderly because there's a lot of people on their own."

Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council said: "At the moment, the infrastructure we have is built around a set of climatic conditions that we've moved out of and extreme rainfall is becoming a lot more common with what is a relatively small degree of climate change.

He says simply cleaning the drains isn't enough, "The kind of water you've seen running down high streets, six inches deep, is not going to be dealt with by any drainage system.

"What we need to be doing is looking at how you delay water getting into and through towns and cities so that it doesn't all flood down a single road in a few hours.

"We need to start in fields and in hills and in woodlands making sure that wherever we can, water doesn't just run off.

He added that years of austerity has corroded the ability of public services to respond.

• Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council

"It is hard if you have to prioritise between day to day children services and children with SEND or services for emergency situations, it's really hard. The choices in the public sector are often between bad and worse.

"We at Oxfordshire County Council have invested more money in flooding than we're given.

"We've made it a priority, flooding prevention, this year and we'll make it more of a priority next year.

"We're in a relatively strong position financially, there are many councils that simply do not have that choice.

"We'll be working as hard as we possibly can to pre-empt anything we can and then to react as fast as we possibly can."

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Kate Marks, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said: "Following this week’s heavy rain and thunderstorms, flood warnings and alerts remain in place across many parts of the country.

"The risk of further significant surface water flooding is also possible but not expected in parts of the country on Thursday and Friday.

"Environment Agency teams continue to be out on the ground, supporting local authorities in responding to surface water flooding. We urge people to plan their journeys carefully, follow the advice of local emergency services on the roads and not to drive through flood water – it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.

"People should check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation as well as following @EnvAgency on X, formerly Twitter, for the latest flood updates.

"The Environment Agency recognises the threat from surface water flooding and is taking action to improve the country’s resilience – for instance supporting local flood authorities to enhance local surface water flood risk mapping. See our blog on surface water flooding for more information.

"The Environment Agency does not have a duty to supply or install sandbags. It’s recommended that you install Property Flood Resilience products in advance of flooding."

A spokesperson for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils addeD: “Oxfordshire experienced significantly high levels of rainfall this week, with reports suggesting a month's worth of rain fell in the space of 24 hours.

"Lots of locations in the south of England experienced surface water flooding, including many areas that have not seen recent new development. There are many factors that influence surface water flooding and flash flooding, but exceptional rainfall like we have seen this week will often cause some problems, regardless of what preventative work takes place.

“We take drainage provision and flood risk into consideration, including the potential impact of climate change, as part of the planning process when granting planning permission. We monitor developments to ensure they are meeting all of the conditions of the planning permission, however, ultimately the provision of drainage on development sites is the responsibility of the respective developer."