Flood victim believes overgrown foliage to blame

From the The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, first published Wednesday 12th Dec 2007.

FLOOD victims John and Margie Histed are facing a bleak Christmas as they prepare to spend another six months living in their mobile home.

The couple's home, Evergreen Farm in Dauntsey, was completely flooded during the heavy rain in July and won't be ready for them to move back into until June 2008.

Mr Histed, 71, said: "It has been a hard six months and we have tried to stay positive and see it as an experience.

"We were actually on holiday in South Africa visiting our son when the house was flooded and we only knew when we got a text message from our other son.

"The neighbours were amazing and all got straight into the house and salvaged everything they possibly could.

"We lost a lot of books and the entire ground floor has had to be ripped out and rebuilt which is taking quite a while.

"We got the news this week that the building is now officially dry - five months after the horrendous floods.

"We have been living in our mobile home outside the house ever since and we have made do.

"We have our daughter and her boyfriend coming over for Christmas so it will be a little cramped."

Mr Histed is now compiling information on flooding in Dauntsey and the surrounding area.

He believes that overgrown trees and plants in the drainage ditch close to the river that burst its banks may be to blame for the flooding.

He is also investing a structure built close to the M4 that also partially blocks the ditch.

He said: "I have asked the Highways Agency to look into this as I believe it could have been a contributing factor to the flooding.

"We have lived here for 20-years and there has never been floods like this and, after checking some historical records, it looks to be a very unusual occurrence.

"We are hoping that all of the building work will be completed by June and we can move back in.

"Luckily we were fully insured and so have had some good fortune where others have not."

More than 700 families across the country will be spending Christmas in temporary accommodation after their homes were flooded in the summer.

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