'Listen to local people' - calls for support after Somerset village floods for second time in weeks

• Heavy rainfall has left people living in Croscombe with flooded homes and businesses

Residents in a Somerset village are facing further disruption as their homes and businesses have flooded for the second time in a matter of weeks.

Croscombe, near Wells, was affected by Storm Henk in January and now following heavy rainfall is once again facing problems due to the water coming through the valley.

Peter Graham is the Landlord of the George Inn.

He said: "We went to bed around 1 am thinking we put our flood barrier out in the morning but at 5 am I was woken up by heavy banging and found out we were flooded again."

Croscombe is in a valley where the river is narrow with low bridges that have problems taking the water.

He said the situation should be manageable and is calling on government support to help solve the problems that have been identified in a previous report.

Peter says "Unfortunately we've had some practice getting back into business after the flooding."

The pub has waterproof flooring they can hose and clean when the water arrives but says the call to action is important to stop this from becoming a regular occurrence.

Councillor Claire Sully has lived in the village for more than 20 years. She says the flooding is happening every few weeks now due to extreme weather that is becoming more frequent. She says the local people have to be listened to.

Cllr Sully said: "Here we are again, Croscombe has been flooded. The authorities understand the issues and more importantly, the local people understand what needs to be done to prevent flooding like this. But we need emergency funding in this village and areas around Shepton and wider Somerset.

"The local authority has to deliver the work that needs to prevent it but they can't do it if they don't have the funding. So I'm calling on the government to give emergency funding to areas like this. You will see the devastation, these are people who are still clearing up from the last flood in January. A few weeks later we now have devastating flooding."

There are calls for preventative measures to be sorted to stop people from seeing this happening to their homes every few weeks.

Meetings are taking place in the coming weeks to respond to the issue.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: "Regarding Croscombe, we issued flood warnings in advance of the flooding and have had operatives out before and since the flooding to ensure trash screens and culverts were clear of debris.

"River levels in the area peaked early on Sunday morning with levels now dropping.

"We understand how devastating flooding is and are absolutely committed to protecting people from flooding and reducing its impact."