Shropshire homeowner prepares for winter flooding

A Shropshire homeowner who has been flooded three times in the past 11 months is calling for a "whole new look" at flood defences in the county.

Siobhan Connor has already been preparing for the case of more flooding at her home in Shrewsbury.

She has had flood barriers installed and collected spare tables for her garage to store household items safely.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it would have a detailed water management scheme in place for the area in 2022.

Heavy rain in February 2020 caused widespread flooding along the River Severn including in Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bewdley.

Ms Connor has also set up a local Flood Action Group for her neighbourhood.

She said recovering from a flood took at least 10 months, adding: "It's draining, it's exhausting, it's upsetting, it's physical and it's stressful. I'm worn down with it now."

"We've really had to take measures into our own hands... fridges, washing machines all had to be lifted up to waist-level.

"We've also this summer invested in state-of-the-art, up-to-date flood boards."

Ms Connor said she wants more to be done to curb the flow of the River Severn through the Midlands, including looking at new flood defence systems which can cope with metre-high levels of water.

The government has committed up to £30m towards the Severn Management Water Scheme.

It has also given the Environment Agency £4.5m to invest in natural flood management protection projects, such a tree planting for the area.

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