Residents forced to evacuate as flooding hits

Newbury West Mills residents Clive and Jane Whitehead (pictured, top) have been forced to move into a hotel with the floors of their ground-floor apartment under a layer of water.
At its worst over the weekend the water rose several inches, Mrs Whitehead told NewburyToday this morning (Mon), while outside it is difficult to tell where their back garden ends and the River Kennet begins.
Some of the floodwater is contaminated with sewage.
“When you are flooded, things happen that you don’t even think about,” she said. “Things like you can’t get your post anymore.”
The couple have six pumps in the property, which they supplied themselves, while much of their furniture has been put into storage.
“This is one of the oldest houses in Newbury and it has just been ignored,” she said. “A crisis like this brings out the fighting spirit in Brits and I’m determined not to let this pull me down but if someone put their arms around me now I would cry.”
In Wellington Close, Shaw, residents were pulling together to pump groundwater from their gardens.
Neighbours Michael Robinson and Peter Stevens (pictured, second)were among those who had their properties flooded over the weekend.
Both have moved their furniture upstairs in preparation for the heavy rain forecast tomorrow (Tues) and Wednesday.
Mr Robinson said that he had lived in the property for 34 years and added: “This used to be a home, it’s now just a house.
“All the water is coming off the fields off Long Lane, through the cemetery straight down here.
“But we are lucky. Purley, Reading, Somerset - this is diddly squat to what they have got.”
In Great Shefford, residents are having to wade through a foot of floodwater from the Winterbourne Stream to reach their houses, and while many have been able to prevent it from coming through the doors they have not been able to stop the groundwater rising through the floors.
Portable toilets have now been installed throughout the village as many households are unable to flush their toilets, while sewage seeps from manholes outside houses on the Wantage Road (pictured, third).
Resident Steve Ackrill said: “It’s coming under the kitchen units, it’s coming up through the lounge.”
West Berkshire Council sent some pumps to alleviate the floodwater over the weekend and Mr Ackrill provided two himself to remove water from his driveway.
He has also been responsible for organising a further three to be installed in the village after West Berkshire Council told him no more pumps were available.
A rota has now been established among a group of residents who will man the pumps overnight to ensure that they don’t stop working.
Fellow resident Linda Parsons, whose back garden has been severely flooded, said: “If the pumps go off we are under water.
“We can’t have showers, baths, use washing machines or toilets.
“It’s a nightmare, you don’t know what you are waking up to.”
Pictured is her husband Glenn in their garden.
Eastbury has also been severely affected.
Resident Will Whinfrey said his house first began to flood last Monday.
He said the water levels in his home peaked over the weekend, and this afternoon there was still around three inches of water on his bathroom floor and around an inch in his kitchen, while water surrounding his house is more than a foot deep in places.
“We can paddle in our own bathroom,” he said. “We have moved everything that is precious upstairs.
“It’s a small, thatched cottage, there’s only so much room.”
His wife, Emma, is eight months pregnant, and he said: “We were very excited up until five days ago.”
Have you been affected by flooding where you are?
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