Ten months since the murky floodwater began retreating from the village of Moorland on the Somerset Levels, the clear-up operation is still very much ongoing. Builders’ vans line the main drag, teams of volunteers are busy trying to restore order, and those householders lucky enough to be finally back in their stricken homes are still unpacking boxes and redecorating.
“It’s been really tough,” said Bryony Sadler, mother of two young children, who has just moved back into her beloved home, a former rectory that had never before flooded. “We’re glad to be back but there’s still a lot of work to be done to get the place how we want it.”
And lots of work to be done on the area’s flood defences before the likes of Sadler will feel secure again. Like most here, she is pleased that the government does seem committed to making the low-lying area less susceptible to the sort of extraordinary floods that wreaked havoc last winter, but unimpressed with the speed of work. “They seem to spend a lot of time talking about making improvements but they need to just get on with it,” she said.
For example, one of the schemes promised by the government on Tuesday was funding to “complete the appraisal, scheme development and design” for a barrier at nearby Bridgwater – which many residents of the Levels believe will help stop their homes flooding. The time-scale for this design phase?
“Five to six years,” according to the Environment Agency. “That’s two governments,” said Sadler. “Who knows what will happen in that time? Things seem to take such a long time.”
Down the road Neill Mellor has also just moved back into his home. A merchant sailor, he was somewhere off the coast of west Africa when water flooded into his home. He is confident that the government is now listening to the concerns of residents. “But I’m not overly confident that we won’t flood again.” He has vowed never to go to sea in the winter again to make sure he is around if the floodwaters rise so dramatically again.
“I haven’t worked since all this happened. My only job has been to get the house straight and get us back in. We haven’t had a party to celebrate yet; we’re waiting for Christmas for that.”
Most of those who had to leave the villages of Moorland and its near neighbour Fordgate are still not home. And yet even on a bitterly cold December day – with the winter storms probably still ahead – there was a sense of optimism.
Painting a fence next to the recently reopened village hall was Cindy Yandell. Her home in nearby Burrowbridge just about escaped flooding but she spends four days a week doing volunteer work for those who were not so fortunate. “It’s very rewarding when people move back in. It’s been a very hard year or so but we’re getting back on our feet.”
