Our lives have been ruined, says Somerset flood victim

A woman says her family has been left homeless by flash flooding that struck last week.

Scores of families were evacuated in Somerset on 9 May when areas were hit by more than two weeks' of rain in just hours, with 150 homes flooded.

"Our lives have been ruined, turned upside down and back to front," Carly Jeans, from North Cadbury, said.

Because of the flood, Mrs Jeans cannot return to the bungalow she lives in with her husband and four children.

Somerset Council has put the family up in a hotel in Podimore.

"We are now officially homeless because we can't go back to the bungalow," Mrs Jeans said.

"While we are here, we are further away from school and from my husband's work.

"It has taken a bit of a toll on petrol and there are not kitchen facilities, so feeding six people three times a day is working out to be quite expensive.

"It is not ideal but we have a roof over our head."

Councillor Sarah Dyke, lead member for environment and climate change, said 17 parishes and 150 homes in Somerset had been affected by the flood.

"It is absolutely heartbreaking for all of those who have been involved in that," Ms Dyke said.

"We have now collected over 3.6 tonnes of materials, that includes white goods, carpets, furniture - you name it.

"We have been putting that into vans so that we can then be able to recycle it."

Mrs Jeans said as a community, they would need a warning if floods were to strike again with such ferocity.

"But apart from that, we will get on and we will move on and we will support each other," she added.

"A lot of lives have been ruined, our lives have been ruined, turned upside down and back to front."

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