09 January 2024 , 23:00
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A woman has been left feeling depressed and hopeless after floodwaters wreaked havoc at her home following Storm Henk.
Janis Last, of Anlaby, Hull, said water flooded her garden, garage and summerhouse after spilling over from a neighbouring drain. She feared her house would also be inundated and the incident has left her suffering sleepless nights.
The 64-year-old, who lives in the First Lane area, said she contacted East Riding of Yorkshire Council for help, but had been told that she was a "riparian owner" of the drain, which is on the other side of her fence, after buying the property from them as a former tenant. She faced having to deal with the immediate threat of flooding herself.
Photographs show the water pooling in the garage, where a washing machine and items of furniture are kept, following the storm on January 2. Janis said: "I was in a state and I was crying and I've not been sleeping and I'm worried every time it rains."
It is the fifth time water from the drain has spilled over into her garden, Janis says. The first was during the catastrophic floods of 2007, but she said it also happened in October, November and December last year and the problem has been much worse since new houses were built off Lowfield Road, not far from her property, in 2015.
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Janis wants the council to look into why the flooding has been so much worse in recent years (Hull Live / MEN Media)
It is the fifth time water from the drain has spilled over into her garden (Hull Live / MEN Media)Janis, who has lived at the property for 34 years as council tenant and now owner, wants the council to look into why the flooding had been so much worse in recent years. "I have never seen flooding that bad before," she told HullLive. "When the kids were small it was just a ditch and they could jump over but now the water is running through and it gets really full. I just can't get no answers."
"There is something going on at the houses in Lowfield and it just can't take it. Luckily [the water] hasn't come in the house but the garage is flooded and the summer house is flooded."
The council told Janis that she was a "riparian owner" of the drain, which means she is responsible for the section of watercourse that runs adjacent to her home. However, Janis said the news surprised her and claimed that there was nothing in legal documents about the drain when she purchased the property from the council as a tenant two years ago.
She said she had recently sought further legal advice and had been told that the situation was "complicated". Despite that, she said that she had ensured that the drain was clear.
The council told Janis is responsible for the section of watercourse (Hull Live / MEN Media)
Janis said it took three days to fully clear the drain and the water was flowing very fast (Hull Live / MEN Media)Riparian owners must allow water to flow freely, potentially by removing blockages and maintaining the banks of a watercourse. They must also report incidents such as flooding or blockages to the Environment Agency. Riparian owners have the right to protect their property from flooding, but must obtain permission for any work carried out in or around a watercourse.
Janis said: "I haven't got a problem if I am a riparian owner, but I've done what was asked and cleared it, but there is clearly a problem somewhere else because of the amount of water coming through. I don't own the entire watercourse. What on Earth is going on so that every time it rains I am getting flooded?"
Following Storm Henk, Janis's partner managed to clear the drain in an attempt to stem the flooding, but it left her fearing for his safety. "We cleared the drain because it was just making me ill," she said. "Eventually, the water started to run through."
She said it took three days to fully clear the drain and the water was flowing very fast. In some places, they estimated it to be between 6-7ft deep.
Janis claimed that other than when the new houses were built in Lowfield, there had never been any maintenance on the drain in all the years that she was a council tenant. She was surprised when she was told she had to keep it clear and added: "Nobody has come and tended it in all the years I've been here."
She said a man from the council's Flood Risk Management Team visited on January 3 and said he would return with a metal detector to locate a manhole and a camera to investigate the problem. In a statement, East Riding Council said: "All watercourses are riparian owned and the responsibility of adjacent land-owners, rather than the responsibility of local authorities."
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"Following Ms Last contacting the council, a member of the Flood Risk Management Team has been to see Ms Last, and has provided her with some documentation which explains riparian ownership responsibilities. The council would also like to advise that house buyers should seek legal advice so that they are informed of all matters about the property they intend to purchase."
"Whilst the watercourse is not the responsibility of the council to maintain, to assist in this instance we will check a short length of culvert which links the watercourse to the main culverted watercourse in First Lane."