Flood victims reflect on lessons learned a year on

Casting as much of a shadow over Oxfordshire as the rainclouds in the sky, 10 flood warnings were in place for the River Thames between Newbridge and Kings Lock.

As the heavens opened, flooding wreaked havoc on homes across Oxford, some of the worst hit being those off Botley Road and in Abingdon Road.

Ferry Hinksey Road, Binsey Lane and the road into South Hinksey from the A34 were closed as emergency services and residents battled with the rising waters.

Our top stories

But for teacher Claire Wilson this was hardly anything new, but the latest chapter in an ongoing saga.

The mum-of-one, who lives in Manor Road, South Hinksey, has had to contend with a flooded home five times over the past seven years.

And she didn’t escape it in 2014. The ground floor of her home flooded make it only possible to enter the house wearing waders.

Claire Wilson outside her home today.

Mrs Wilson said in last year’s floods she lost letters her father had written to her while she was at university and precious keepsakes, such as 18th birthday cards, were ruined by flood water.

She, husband Dave and son Rafe were forced to move to Witney to stay with relatives while the water was pumped out of the house.

When they returned after a month, they had to put up with noisy de-humidifiers, bubbled paintwork, damaged kitchen units and a broken-up patio.

Mrs Wilson said: “We’re living with our fingers crossed. It could happen again any time.

“I’m kind of stoical about it now.”

Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as in 2007, when she said her home was under 13 inches of water, causing £30,000 of damage.

But the after-math of that, and the constant fear of flooding, Mrs Wilson said, has seen her insurance company raise its excess from £200 to £2,000. A cap on flooding premiums agreed between insurers and Government is expected to come into force this summer, according to the Association of British Insurers.

Overall, Mrs Wilson, 48, said little has been done in the last year to prevent the village flooding again, although the Oxford Flood Alliance is in talks to create earthworks around the village which would then allow the Environment Agency to put in flood barriers in an emergency.

She said: “It’s the inconvenience more than anything. We had to move out of the house which is very disruptive and everything is damp and smells when you move back in.

“It’s not very pleasant but what can you do?”

The family has now applied for a £5,000 grant under the Government’s Repair and Renew scheme, launched after the worst of the flooding ended in April last year. But the Wilsons have already been making changes to tackle the rising waters, including installing a pump.

She added: “I sometimes get a little fed up with people going on about their homes being flooded on the television as we try to just get on with it.

“It’s a real nuisance every time it happens but you just have to get on with it.”

Chairman of Oxford Flood Alliance Peter Rawcliffe, who also lives in the village, said that things were gradually being improved as the county learned lessons from its flooding history.

Flood prevention work, such as clearing drainage pipes in South Hinksey and Kennington, helped drain rainwater more quickly in 2014.

He said: “It was better last year than it had been on previous occasions.

“Nothing much has changed on the ground, but its a lot better than it was two or three years ago.

“I think we did learn lessons from last year’s flooding, for example the emergency services are now very highly trained.”

He said a great deal of hope for the future came from the proposed new £120m flood channel, planned to run west of Oxford from Botley Road to Sandford-on-Thames.

Allotments are thriving.

From left, Mick Gifford, Faith Phipps, John Rowlands and John Hastings at the Cowmead Allotments off Abingdon Road, Oxford.

Many of Oxford’s 36 allotment sites were badly flooded last year, but this year they’ve been coming up roses – or rather onions.

Faith Phipps, letting secretary for Cowmead Allotments off Abingdon Road, said the plots there were thriving once more, despite the devastation.

No one pulled out of keeping an allotment because of the bad weather and things are now relatively back to normal.

Allotment owners were out as usual on Christmas Day, picking vegetables for their Christmas dinners.

The 69-year-old said: “We were all affected but most of the crops survived, even the onions.

“The thing that was really badly affected was the rhubarb.

“Most people lost their rhubarb, but the winter crops managed to survive under the water and nobody left the allotments because of the floods.”

Allotments off Botley Road were particularly badly hit, as Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue had to pump water off the main road into the allotment site.

The allotments seen from the air at the height of last year’s floods.

Mrs Phipps said allotment-keepers were used to flooding, so they would lift any machinery and tools off the ground in case of bad weather.

Sheds, she added, just dry out of their own accord.

She said: “It’s much better this year because the river levels are much lower.

“There is an excellent crop this year, despite it being dry in the spring.”

Farm counting costs.

Farmer Tim Hook says he is still suffering the effects of floods.

In January last year Prime Minister David Cameron visited Cote Lodge Farm in Bampton, near Witney.

As he gazed out onto fields, what greeted him was hundreds of acres of land under feet of water.

One year on, farmer John Hook and his son Tim Hook are still reeling from the impact of the floods.

They had to replant 800 acres of crops at a cost of thousands of pounds.

Tim Hook said nothing has changed in a year and he fears the farm will go under water again if heavy rains return.

He said: “There are the same problems. They haven’t done anything to be honest.

“We were getting worried about it in November when there was heavy rain.

“I don’t know if they are not managing the level of the River Thames properly, but the overflow ditches were filling up very quickly and we thought we would go under again.”

Farmer Tim Hook with David Cameron during last year’s floods.

Much of the farm’s crop of winter wheat was left under several feet of water for eight weeks after the January flooding, Mr Hook said.

This forced them to replant in the spring, with spring barley, at a cost of between £35 and £45 per acre.

But it only sells for £110 per tonne, compared to wheat which goes for £130 per tonne.

Cameron pledges £42m to boost city defences.

Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron last month visited Oxford to announce £42m for improvements to the city’s flood defence scheme.

The main part of the so-called Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme, also known as the Western Conveyance Scheme, is a new flood channel, running around Seacourt Park-and-Ride off Botley Road to the River Thames at Sandford Lock.

It is designed to divert water away from Oxford.

In addition, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership has pledged £26m, there is £14m from the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committees and £2m from local councils, giving a total of £84m.

The Environment Agency expects to reach £100m with more Government funding, but will need to raise a further £20m from partners such as Thames Water and Oxford University.

As reported in Monday’s Oxford Mail, concerns have been raised that 600 homes would still be at risk, despite the scheme going ahead.

• Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.