A COUPLE from Moorland who were forced to evacuate their home during the floods earlier this year have been able to resume their lives this week.
Richard said: “We don’t have any choice but to carry on living here because the house now has no resale value, so we might as well spend the rest of our days here and hope nothing like this ever happens again.”
After an agonising seven-month ordeal, Richard and Joan Large say they are “delighted” to finally move back into their bungalow, which was completely flooded back in February.
Joan said: “We’re just so happy to be back.
We’ve been living in an apartment in North Petherton, which was nice, but it’s nothing like home and we wanted to get back as soon as possible.
“The whole thing was just heart-breaking – I couldn’t come back to see it initially.”
With help from family and friends the couple have worked to completely rebuild their home in the months since the floods.
After almost three feet of flood water receded, builders set about a six-week operation to dry out the building and then a further seven-week project to restore the house to a liveable condition.
Renovation work finished on September 23 and the couple were allowed to settle back into their home.
Richard said: “We don’t have any choice but to carry on living here because the house now has no resale value, so we might as well spend the rest of our days here and hope nothing like this ever happens again.”
Richard recalled a police helicopter flying over their home in early February, urging them to evacuate because of the rapidly rising flood water.
He said: “I wanted to stay and pump the water out as it came into the house, but in the end I thought my wife is disabled and we have two dogs – we have to get to safety.
“We put our belongings in the loft, packed our suitcases and left.
“As we drove away we thought we’d be back in a few days, but we were very wrong.
“I have cameras around the house and the wifi was still working for a while, so I could actually watch the water steadily rising in my home.”
For the first fortnight after Richard and Joan fled their home they stayed with their son, Dave, and daughter-in-law, Ruth, in Reading. Ruth said:
“It’s completely soul-destroying to watch two people who are always so happy be uprooted so quickly.
First published Tuesday 30 September 2014 in Bridgwater Area News
http://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/bridgwater_news/11503112.Moorland_flood_couple_back_home_at_last/