A couple say they have lost everything after the houseboat they lived on flooded and sank during Storm Dennis.
James Warren, 55, and his wife Lorraine, 48, woke up on February 17 to discover their houseboat at Pillings Lock in Barrow upon Soar near Loughborough had started to lean.
Storm Dennis battered parts of the UK between February 13 and February 19, causing severe floodings and prompting more than 630 weather warnings.
Lorraine said: “We realised the boat was leaning, James went outside to have a look and I didn’t hear anything.
“I decided to get up myself and when I actually got up, you could feel the lean.
“I walked from the bedroom through to the lounge and I just heard people shout ‘get out, get out’ and I turned round and water was coming in.”
Lorraine rushed out and within 11 minutes, the houseboat had capsized and was sinking, Leicester Live reports.
Her husband James Warren said: "As the water came through the front door, the whole thing tilted, started to flood and there was no way back."
The top floor of the two-storey boat was ripped off and the whole boat’s interior is damaged and waterlogged.
The boat contained all their belongings - so the couple was left without anything.
According to the Environment Agency there was an 80cm increase in Pillings Lock's water levels overnight on Monday February 17, following a weekend of heavy rain and wind.
The privately-owned marina said it "had no prior warning" the water levels would rise, the BBC reports.
Director Gianna Brunetti said she was "very saddened" by what had happened to the Warrens, who had not renewed their insurance, but said the marina could not "control water levels.
A Canal and River Trust spokesman said it has no jurisdiction over private marinas.
He said: "The paddles had been opened at Pillings more than a week before this incident took place.
"When the paddles were opened flood boards were updated at the lock advising boaters of the actions they should take in flood conditions."
He also said the trust does not have the ability to contact individual boaters and there are markers on lock gates to show when a river is in flood.
Charnwood Borough Council gave Lorraine and James emergency bed and breakfast accommodation for a few days and they are currently stopping in a friend’s spare room.
Mr and Mrs Warren, however, say they are having difficulties finding a rental property to live, as all their paperwork to prove who they are was lost in the flooding.
Lorraine has even had to borrow clothes from her 25-year-old niece.
Recovery experts spent a couple of days re-floating the boat, at a cost of around £1,800 a day, and they have had to hire skips to get rid of all the damaged items, which has also cost around £2,000.
Lorraine said: “It was the most beautiful home and James built it.
“It was just beautiful, he was very, very proud of it and it was a real labour of love for him.”
A relative has set up a crowdfunding page to help raise money for the couple to help them get back on their feet, pay for clothes and cover the salvage operation costs.
Lorraine said she was elated at the kindness that people had shown in making donations and added that despite the disaster, they do want to rebuild it, and make it a home again eventually.
