VOTE: Months of misery for North Bersted flood victim

Mrs Crispin said: “I don’t know how long it will take. I’ve been told it is likely to be Christmas. I hope it is but I’m not banking on it.

“My bungalow has to be completely dried out. Once that has happened, the different people can come in and do their work.”

The flooding on June 11 cost Mrs Crispin, 74, all her belongings. Her bungalow in Greenwood Close was completely flooded.

“The water was halfway up the walls. Everything is now gone from the bungalow. There is nothing left in there,” she said.

She was woken at 3.30am by a neighbour and a firefighter as the flooding worsened. “It was the second time in 18 months it had happened. I couldn’t take it in. I got really upset and everything went downhill,” she said.

She spent the night at the Royal Norfolk Hotel before she went to stay with her son in Hemel Hempstead for five weeks. She was then able to move into her neighbour’s property, which 
is used as a holiday home, until her two-bedroom semi-detached bungalow is habitable again.

She described the flooding as about 2ft-3ft high and much worse than on the previous occasion. “The last time, the water was only up to the skirting boards. It was higher this time.”

Before then, any flood water had stopped in her garden in the 20 years next month in which she has lived there.

She said: “I wasn’t the only one affected in June. There were eight of us down here who got flooded. I just hope they can do something about the problem this time because it was so bad.”

Mrs Crispin is still getting the detailed figures from her loss adjuster to find out how much it will cost to put her life back together again.

But it will involve replacing all the furniture and fittings which were only bought after she was previously flooded.

“I have to start from scratch for the second time,” she said. “Where I’m living is nice but it’s not my home. I will be glad to get back there.”

What do you think?

Should more be done to help support victims of flooding like Mrs Crispin? Cast your vote in the poll to the right of the screen and leave your comments below.