Isle of Man floods: Laxey residents given £500 Manx government grant

Home owners affected by severe flooding in an Isle of Man village last week will each receive £500, the chief minister has said.

Howard Quayle said the money would "provide some immediate relief" to Laxey residents.

But Richard Kneen, who lives on Glen Road, said: "Houses are wrecked, lives are wrecked, what's £500?"

An independent inquiry into the events that led to the flooding has also been announced by the Manx government.

Parts of Laxey were engulfed by flooding on 1 October when water surged through a hole in a river wall.

That hole had been made to allow repairs to a weir.

The one-off grants were "designed to assist with immediate recovery costs, such as accommodation", the government explained.

Garff Commissioners chairman Jamie Smith said the amount was "probably not a full recompense for the likely thousands homeowners will have to pay."

Speaking after a public meeting in the village on Thursday night, Manx Utilities chairman Alex Allinson said people had "lost trust in government for delivering".

The inquiry needed to be "meaningful, open and transparent", he said, adding that it should "absolutely make sure that the outcomes of it are positive for Laxey".

The information gathered would be used to "look wider at the other areas of the Isle of Man that are flooding and learn the lessons here so that the problems aren't repeated elsewhere," he added.