Flooding is price I pay for living here (From Worcester News)

Flooding is price I pay for living here

9:30am Tuesday 1st January 2013 in News

A HOMEOWNER whose riverside property flooded twice over the festive period has remained positive despite fears it will be waterlogged again, saying it is the price he pays for living in such a beautiful location.

Iain Smith, of Diglis Avenue, watched as water began entering his home, which looks out over the river Severn, days before Christmas.

The water then receded but rose again, coming back into the house on Christmas Eve.

Despite the floods putting back his redecoration plans, Mr Smith, who was away for some of the Christmas period, said it is no more than an inconvenience.

“Potentially it is going to come in again for a fourth time in a few days,” he said. “I am not worried about it, you get used to it.

“It is a pain but it is a sacrifice you make for the view and where you are living. It is actually much nicer when the water is up. If it was down a foot it would be perfect, like living by a lake, not a river.

“I haven’t completely moved back in. I am redecorating anyway. It just slows you down. The water came in twice and it was between half an inch and an inch, enough to cover the whole floor.”

The river Severn peaked at 5.23 metres at 6pm on December 23 and again at 5.22m at about 4pm on Christmas Day.

“The damage is to the floor,” said Mr Smith. “My sofa and TV are raised on crates.”

Mr Smith’s is the only house along the road that flooded, as the flooring is lower in his two front rooms.

“The kitchen and the dining room are lower than the kitchen by about nine inches,” said Mr Smith.

“When we moved in the floor had been raised and we decided not to raise it again. We used a grant given to the homeowners to raise the kitchen and that did not flood.”