Wrexham mum-of-two 'heartbroken' as she watched flood water 'rise up' her front door

  • Shola spoke to ITV Wales' Joanne Gallacher about the damage to her home following the flooding

A Wrexham mum has spoken of her "heartbreak" at the thought of having to repair the damage to her "dream home" after it was severely damaged by flooding.

Flood water poured into 25-year-old Shola Owen-James' home in Cefndre, Caia Park on Saturday, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Shola, who had only moved in in January, was with her two children when the rain started.

She said: "It was building up, flooding the road, spilling into my garden and pouring into the house. We couldn't stop it."

Shola fears it could take many months to get her house back to the way it was

The entire downstairs of Shola's home was submerged under inches of water, damaging everything in its path and leaving her unable to leave the property. She said she "didn't know what to do, because it was so deep in the garden as well."

Neighbours were bailing out flood water from gardens using buckets

Shola's neighbours came to try and help keep the water away from the house, using bowls to scoop it up.

She said cars going past the house were "causing waves, causing water to come into the house quicker", which the fire brigade eventually stopped by putting up police tape.

The full extent of damage to Shola's furniture and appliances are still not fully known, but her carpets and sofa will all have to be replaced along with the kitchen.

"There is quite a lot of work to be done. As well as the work that needs to be done on the road, to prevent this from happening again."

All the downstairs flooring and carpets will have to be replaced

Shola thanked her neighbours for trying to help. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help from neighbours and everyone. I would have struggled.

"There was about thirty of us on Saturday and there was about fifteen, twenty of us yesterday just getting everything out."

More than 81 flooding incidents were responded to by Wrexham County Borough Council's Environment Streetscene Team.

Flood water poured into people's gardens and their homes Credit: Media Wales

Many buildings including shops and businesses were overwhelmed by the rain, with the local bus station concourse closing on Saturday evening.

In some parts, it was the second time in three weeks that streets had been flooded.

One local councillor said a family had to be relocated due to their house being flooded with sewage.

In another incident an 87-year-old woman had to be rescued by firefighters from her house - the third time this has happened this year.

The County Borough Council said it had to quadruple its response teams following the torrential weather and warned of the effects of climate change.

It said: "In virtually all situations where water was the problem, the heavy rain overwhelmed drainage systems and in time water dissipated.

The council added: "Please be aware our drainage systems can never cope with the quantity of water that fell in such a short period. We cannot ”build” ourselves out of this situation, it is climate change and risk increases. We can only firefight and assist with response.

"Following a period of warmer drier weather over Saturday night and into Sunday, our teams were again readying to respond only to see the forecast rain not develop into anything like as significant conditions.

"Our leadership team with our on call supervisors are geared up as far as we can be for repeat events and possibly into next week."

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