By Jenny Barwise

Published at 11:53, Saturday, 29 September 2012

A mother and daughter are living in fear that their house will flood again – every time it rains.

Emma-Jane Taylor

Emma-Jane Taylor and her 16-year-old daughter Katy, who has Downs Syndrome, have been forced to live in a caravan in their garden after torrential rain came flooding in to the ground floor of their St Bees home.

They don’t know if they will be back in their house for Christmas and all they can do is keep their finger’s crossed that repair work will be completed by then.

And after this week’s atrocious weather, which saw the county bettered by a month’s worth of rain in just 24-hours, the mother and daughter are living on edge in case they see history repeat itself.

Ms Taylor said: “Earlier this week when the weather was bad I took Katy to Middlesbrough hospital for a check up and driving back I was really worried what I was going home to.

“Katy panics when it rains and gets worried.”

The memories of her High House Road home flooding, are still fresh in Ms Taylor’s head. “I couldn’t do anything,” said the 41-year-old. “It was really fast-flowing water and was nearly up to my knees – I was helpless.

“The house is unliveable now. There’s mould growing on the walls.

“It does get me down and it hits me at certain times and brings me to tears. You start to feel helpless because there’s not an awful lot you can do. I’m trying to keep upbeat for Katy because she gets very confused over how long it’s going to take.”

It wasn’t just Ms Taylor’s house that was flooded, as eight others on the street, including her mum’s, were also hit by the torrential weather.

The pair originally stayed in the upstairs lounge of the house – which has bedrooms on the ground floor – but since repair work has started have had to move into the caravan.

“When repair work started there was a lot of mould and dust,” said Ms Taylor. “Katy has health problems and I didn’t want to subject her to anything that would make it worse.”

Their insurance company offered them the chance to stay in a hotel while work was carried out, but Ms Taylor wanted to be close to home as she didn’t want to upset Katy’s routine.

She is calling on Copeland council to look into the problem of blocked drains on the street.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk