London Floods: Families scared to return home want more help

Families whose homes were ravaged by floods are calling for more support as they remain unable to return home.

Some residents claim they have been left in the dark by Thames Water and Westminster City Council after parts of London received a month's worth of rain in one day on 12 July.

They also said they were scared of future flooding.

Both Thames Water and the council said independent investigations were due to take place.

Laura Brown, from Maida Vale, north-west London, said she had been unable to return to her basement level property with her husband and two teenage children.

The property consultant said: "Demand for short-term lets sky-rocketed immediately after the floods as residents struggled to find somewhere to stay.

"There were bidding wars for flats and rentals and nobody wanted to rent to you because you don't know how long you'll be there for.

"I just thought I have to get my kids a place to live and a desk. They had no clean dry shoes."

Ms Brown said she thought it would be a year before the family could return to the home they have lived in for the last twenty years.

She also told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she was charged twice for council tax - once for the family home, and again for the property she currently lives in.

Danny Briottet and his family have been living in a B&B after their two-storey home in Maida Vale flooded in July, but he says residents have received little to no support from authorities.

"They are living in fear of future floods," he said.

"We're still trying to find out what actually happened… I don't understand why the drainage system didn't work.

"We had a month's worth of rain in an hour and then it stopped."

He said Thames Water had not been co-operative and there was little accountability.

He continued: "Now when it rains you think 'I'd better go home in case it gets flooded'."

A spokesperson for Thames Water said it had supported customers by cleaning-up homes and helping with insurance claims.

They said the heavy rainfall on 12 July went beyond the limits of the authority's drainage capacity.

Thames Water added that investigations so far have not found evidence of a failure that would have significantly contributed to the flooding.

An independent investigation will take place in the next few months.

A Westminster City Council spokesperson said the authority is committed to supporting those affected by the floods and is providing council tax relief to anyone who cannot live in their home as a result.

They added: "We understand how difficult it has been for many and our parking marshals are taking this into consideration in affected areas."

The authority will also hold a statutory investigation looking at how future incidents are dealt with.