Flood victims 'vulnerable' due to lack of support

Two people who were affected by widespread flooding earlier this year have labelled the support they have received as "upsetting", and said it has left them feeling "vulnerable".

Patrick Cane, from Marston, and Rachael Blakey, from Bucknell, were both heavily impacted by the flooding that took place across Oxfordshire in September.

Their comments come as Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) announced six new measures to help with flood prevention.

But Mr Cane, whose property was also flooded in January, criticised the plans, saying they were "just words at the minute".

"Until we actually see something happening, it's going to be very hard not to be waiting for the next big rain and thinking 'what's going to happen?'," Mr Cane said.

He added: "It would be wonderful to see something actually happening rather than just words at this moment."

According to University of Oxford researchers, September saw the highest monthly rainfall in Oxford since 1774, and was the second wettest month since records began in 1767.

Ms Blakey, whose family is set to be out of their home for six months, said: "At the time [of the flooding] I don't think we had the support, and that's just continued really."

She said nobody from OCC had been in touch with her since the flooding, leaving her family feeling "really isolated, alone, and quite vulnerable".

"Everything that we've been doing to remedy things have been all us - so that has been really disappointing and hasn't made us feel particularly well looked after," she added.

In response to the concerns raised by Mr Cane and Ms Blakey, OCC said in a statement: "Our response was focused on the residents rescued from their properties by the county council’s fire and rescue service, and those who suffered internal flooding and needed water pumping from their homes.

"We have been targeting the areas most vulnerable to flooding when it comes to cleaning our drainage systems, but when it comes to flood prevention, resilience and protection, there are no simple answers."

The council added that "everyone has a role to play" in dealing with flooding, including the Environment Agency and water companies.

The BBC has approached both the EA and Thames Water for a comment.

Meanwhile OCC has announced six new policies to prevent flooding in the county.

They include improving communication with the public, investigating how drainage systems could be sustainably retrofitted and helping parish councils develop plans.

The council's deputy leader, Pete Sudbury, said the current situation was a "perfect storm".

"Even if every single drain and every single pipe was working as best it could, we could not have stopped most of the flooding that's happened recently," the Green Party councillor said.

"We're getting weather events which are just simply beyond the design specifications of anything in the ground or anything we have."

He added that the council needed to "think about rainfall in a very different way".

"We need to think from the moment a raindrop lands, how do we slow it down or soak it up - rather than waiting for it to hit a street when it's too late."

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