Loftus flood: Nurse hits out at Redcar Council and Environment Agency response

A nurse has criticised the emergency response to his town being hit by flooding as Storm Antoni swept across the UK.

Paul Jones-King, of Loftus, on Teesside, said he was "angry" and "really frustrated" after his home was flooded on Saturday.

The 47-year-old believes the town's drainage system is "not able to cope" with heavy rainfall.

Redcar and Cleveland Council said it had "responded immediately".

Mr Jones-King said it had been the second time in three years the town had suffered with flooding and claimed the response from authorities had been "poor".

"I just want to cry to be honest with you.

"I'm a nurse, I finished a night shift, was sat having a cup of coffee before I was due to go to bed, and literally within 10 minutes your house is flooding.

"Everyone is just arguing among themselves, no-one has done anything, and we've flooded again."

Mr Jones-King estimated around 20 properties in the nearby area may have been affected.

He criticised both the Environment Agency and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

"It really is down to the Environment Agency to come up with a solution rather than just saying, 'unfortunately you're in a flooded area'.

"It's [also] a real poor response from Redcar and Cleveland Council. There's no support, they've dumped some bags, and that's it, they've gone.

"Delivering sandbags seven hours after an event is just a complete waste of time for everybody."

Mr Jones-King said it took "a good few months" to recover from flooding three years ago, adding he felt "stuck in limbo" as further heavy rain from Storm Antoni is forecast for the rest of the day.

A spokesman for the council said the authority "responded immediately when called out to the need for help and a crew was deployed to the scene by early morning".

He added: "Further crews were mobilised throughout the morning as the scale of the flooding became apparent.

"The crews were at the scene all day to work with the emergency services to keep people safe. This work included making roads safe to use, clearing gulleys to allow the water to run away and providing help to residents to protect their homes."

He said work to repair damage would continue in the days ahead.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said it had responded to reports of "rapidly rising water levels" in Loftus and the surrounding areas and teams had been on site and were monitoring the situation.

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