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Writer's pictureCaroline Stephens

Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink!

Hundreds of flood victims yet to receive any cash promised under Government scheme

EXCLUSIVE: Disaster victims are in floods of tears as they still await compensation after their homes were ruined - going as far back as November 2019

Hundreds of flood victims whose homes were deluged in 2019 are yet to receive money promised to them by the Government.

Homeowners say the delays mean they “live in fear” of another flood while waiting for payouts pledged 16 months ago by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Property Flood Resilience scheme (PFR) is worth up to £5000 to home owners left devastated by floods during the last two years.

It helps those flood hit families pay for flood gates, the raising of electric sockets and other flood resilient measures.

But the Mirror can reveal that councils in some of the hardest hit regions have only paid out a fraction of the grants to stricken residents.

The delay in the Government-backed schemes has been blamed on the "complex" Defra guidance councils have to follow.

Flood victim Suzanne Stankard from Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire, said she sent her 'expression of interest' for the grant last May and is still waiting for work to start including a flood gate fitted and raised electrics.

“A couple of weeks ago everyone on our row lifted all their furniture upstairs when we were warned we could be flooded again,” she said. “You do live in fear.

“It took me three hours on my own to take my furniture upstairs to safety. We were worried.

“I thought 'it's just typical' that I'd be flooded again before I get the flood gates in.

“The council told me they are a small team and it was taking them longer than anticipated.

“It is now nine months since I first completed a form expressing my interest.

“Now I will have to wait and see when the builders can complete the work.”

But Ms Stankard, an art lecturer, says she spent five months waiting for her council to give her details of an approved surveyor.

In the end she found her own.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough council has so far only paid grants to 6 of the 129 eligible initial applicants.

While Doncaster has settled just 18 out of 415 eligible applicants by February 17th this year, according to Freedom of Information requests.

In Derbyshire, which was hit with a month's worth of rainfall in a single day in November 2019, the county council is understood to have not paid any of the 91 successful applicants.

A spokesperson estimating the earliest date of first payment to be around June.

One of those hit by the delays in Derbyshire, is Daniel Reed, 46, who lives in a terraced house.

He is still waiting for a surveyor to come round to assess his needs.

And onwards we go onto the Woodlands Trust zoom meeting.....

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-flood-victims-yet-receive-23551898?utm_source=whatsapp.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

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