Buckingham pub landlady 'absolutely broken' as cellar floods with 'filthy river water' in Storm Bert
ITV News Meridian's Ciaran Fitzpatrick has been speaking to people affected across the Thames Valley.
A pub landlady says she is "absolutely broken" after the cellar of her establishment flooded with "filthy river water" during Storm Bert.
The owners of The New Inn in Buckingham say almost all their bottles and barrels of alcohol were contaminated and will need to be thrown away. The cellar has to now be sanitised before they can reopen.
Louise Maloney, owner of The New Inn said: "We're absolutely broken. This is our livelihood. We’ve been doing this for six years. We can’t get insured because the pub has been flooded so many times, so everything that we’ve lost is gone. We can’t open, so we’re losing trading."
Louise Maloney says they are 'very broken'.
Ms Maloney is appealing for more flooding support as she says she is unable to get insured as this has happened multiple times.
She added: "This has happened so many times. The town needs more flood defences. It would be nice if the council can supply skips for us to put our rubbish in. It’s going to come out of our pockets.
"I don’t want this to ruin us and it could quite easily. You just carry on, don’t you? Nobody’s died, you’ve just got to carry on and make it work. We don’t have any choice."
Ms Maloney says they would like to reopen by the end of the week but are not able to start clearing up until the water subsides and with more wet weather on the way, they are fearful for the future.
Thomas Broom is Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment said: "We have responded to more than 60 callouts across Buckinghamshire in the last 48 hours as a result of the impact of Storm Bert, including clearing fallen trees and debris as well as dealing with flooding.
"We know Buckingham has been badly impacted by flooding once again and in the immediate aftermath we’ve had extra staff from our Highways teams in the town to assist in the response and have provided sandbags for distribution locally.
"In terms of the long-term response in areas like Buckingham which are seeing more frequent flooding, the council is involved in a number of ways including working with the Environment Agency and the community to build resilience to flooding.
"We have a new ‘Be Flood Ready’ website which details a wealth of information around flooding including what people should do in the immediate aftermath of experiencing a flood.
"I know residents and businesses will be worried and traumatised by this latest flooding in Buckingham and I want to assure them that while the council cannot provide the long-term solutions alone, we will work with them to best manage the reality of their property being situated in a high-risk location for flooding.”
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