‘We are on pins every time it rains’ – fed-up residents
HOME-OWNERS in Rochdale repeatedly hit by floods have told how they’re ‘on pins’ every time it rains heavily as they face yet another clean-up operation.
At least four homes on Turf Hill Road are thought to have been flooded on Sunday after 24 hours of torrential rain caused havoc.
For Janine Walker, 50, it’s the third time in the last four years her semi-detached home has been under water.
Janine, a mum of four and a carer, says her kitchen floor is damaged beyond repair.
She told how the road outside ‘turned into a river’ at about 5pm, before the waters rushed down her drive and breached the sandbags she’d put up at the front and back doors.
She said: “We never know when it’s going to happen, we just know it is going to happen at some point.
“Every March now we order a pallet of sandbags because we know it’s coming.
“The fire brigade were here for two hours last night - they were amazing - but even they couldn’t keep on top of it. They couldn’t pump it out quick enough.
“I want to move to Cornwall but we can’t sell this house now and we can’t rent it out.
“We’ve worked hard for what we’ve got but it just keeps getting taken away from us. We just have to keep dealing with it and dealing with it.
“It’s just not fair. I’m just p ***** off with it all.”
Homes on Turf Hill Road were also affected during the 2015 Boxing Day floods - the worst in living memory in Rochdale.
But Janine’s next door but one neighbours, John and Mavis Ripley, say the problems on the street go back much further than that.
The retired couple, who’ve lived in their home for 42 years have been flooded 10 times since 2001.
On Sunday night every ground floor room in their home was under water meaning they’ll need yet another new carpet - just three years after the last one was fitted following a previous flood.
Mr Ripley, a retired engineer, said: “We’re on pins every time it rains heavily. I look out the window at the grid in front of the house and I know as soon as that comes up we’re in for it again.”
It’s not clear what’s causing the flooding, but residents believe it’s linked to the drain outside their homes which can’t cope during torrential downpours.
Mr and Mrs Ripley have a pump set up in the yard to try to stop water getting inside, but last night even that didn’t work.
Mrs Ripley, a former school cleaner, added: “We daren’t go away in case it floods.
“We’re insured so it won’t cost us anything, but all the carpets will need replacing again, we’ll have to get heaters in for a few weeks to dry everything out.
“I’m just fed up with it all - I’m stressed out with it all the time.”