Storm Arwen: Mother and daughter waiting to move back to their Northumberland home a year on

A mother and daughter are unable to move back to their Northumberland home, a year after it was damaged by Storm Arwen.

Anne Davies and her daughter Helen had to escape their house in Lynemouth as the storm raged on the night of 26 November 2021.

The 100mph winds damaged brickwork and blew out windows leaving the house “like a bomb site”.

Mc Davies said she had thought they would move back in within six months, but a year after the storm they are still living in nearby rented accommodation.

She said: “This was our first proper home.

“It is upsetting because so much stuff has been damaged or destroyed.

"We’d gone to the trouble of saving money up, getting nice pieces of furniture and carpets, and the whole lot has gone to waste.“

Storm Arwen, described by experts as the UK’s worst storm in decades, tore down millions of trees and damaged homes and property across the North East.

Ms Davies said the pair could hear the wind ripping bricks off the side of the house and slates from the roof.

She said: “We went upstairs and were trying to move the items we needed downstairs, and then suddenly the bedroom windows went.

“The door slammed shut and I had a job getting it open again. Then all of a sudden, the rest of the upstairs windows went,” she said.

It has taken nearly a year to get work signed off by insurers, and work to repair the property is due to begin in the next few weeks.

While the physical damage can be fixed, the emotional scars remain.

Helen said she regularly can spend “three or four hours” awake at night. “A noise wakes me up and I can’t get back to sleep,” she said.

“You're just in permanent survival mode. Slightly on edge from any noises or unexpected things.”

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