AN Alton woman may be forced to give up her home following serious flooding which she fears could render it impossible to reinsure.
For Cherry Way resident Sarah Reynolds, the August 4 flood came as a stark reminder of a ghost which has not been fully laid to rest.
The property has a history of flooding but, when Sarah bought it in February 2000, she thought the cause of the problem had been well and truly nailed.
On the day of the August storm it became apparent that this was not the case.
A four-foot build-up of water against her front door burst through, flooding the whole of the ground floor to a depth of almost two feet, destroying carpets and flooring and damaging furniture and appliances beyond repair.
The only survivor was a Steinway piano which experts are hoping to save.
But the young Alton woman, who lives in the house with her partner Philip Dixon, is looking at a bill of well over £25,000 for redecoration and to replace the goods she has lost.
While it is not the first time the house has flooded since Sarah bought it, she had not expected to go through the same trauma as the previous owner, Ian Young, who was forced to leave the property following a serious flood in January 1999 which drove himself and his young family into temporary accommodation in a nearby village.
Sarah believes she made all the right checks. She had investigated the situation and both she, her solicitor and surveyor were satisfied that previous flooding had been the result of a series of events triggered by the fields above Southview Rise which had been ploughed in such a way as to channel water onto the highway. The water then ran down Southview Rise and into Cherry Way, finding the lowest exit point at number 89. It was a situation further exacerbated by blocked drains.
They were led to believe that the situation regarding the farm land had been resolved and that a new drainage ditch had been put in to catch water running off Alton Town Council's Greenfields amenity area adjacent to the farmland. They were also assured that the highway drainage system would be checked on a regular basis by Hampshire county engineers and cleaned out every six months.
"I knew I would be taking a bit of a risk but not as big a risk as it has turned out to be," said Sarah, whose first experience of flooding came about a year after she moved in. At that time the water rose only as far as skirting board level and she was able to save the furniture, but the house still needed drying out and redecorating.
This time she was in the kitchen when the hailstones came down. "I went upstairs to change and came down to find at least two feet of water outside the front door. I didn't even have time to put sandbags down," said Sarah, who estimated that the water took about 20 minutes to rise to some four feet outside the door.
Shocked and desperately trying to slow the flow as the water forced its way in, luckily for Sarah a neighbour (pictured) climbed over the fence and in through her sitting room window to turn the electricity off.
She had called the fire service who, on hearing the water was at electricity level and potentially life threatening, arrived to pump the property out.
Distressed because she feels she shouldn't have to live in fear of being flooded every time there is a heavy storm, Sarah Reynolds believes she is the victim of an inadequate highway drainage system which runs under her home but does not have the capacity to do the job.
On August 4 the heavy downpour resulted in the drains going into overload with water pouring down Southview Rise, into Cherry Way and channelling down what is a steep driveway into the house.
"Although they may want to blame the farmer for ploughing his fields the wrong way the fundamental point is that the drainage is totally inadequate," said Sarah, who is now in the process of getting a surveyor involved for some professional advice.
She has also written to local MP Michael Mates and is seeking to alert local councillors to her plight.
"It is totally unacceptable to expect people to continue living under these circumstances," said Sarah, who is upset at having to claim on her own insurance policy for something which she does not consider her fault nor has any way of rectifying. Nor can she see any point in getting the house dried out, refurnished and redecorated when there is no guarantee that the flooding will not reoccur.
Her real fear is that when it comes to reinsuring the property the company may be reluctant to do so. She had put the house on the market two weeks before the flood and is now thinking that she may be forced to hand it back to the mortgage company. "I just don't know what to do with it," she said.
While expressing sympathy for Sarah Reynolds, Alton Town Clerk Steve Parkinson said that he had checked the Greenfields amenity site ditches at the time of the flood and found them to be clear.
District and county councillor Tony Ludlow has been in touch with Hampshire County Council's local highways engineer who reported that all the gullies and catchpits in the area had been cleaned out in July last year and had been checked this July when they were found to be "working well".
"What we need to do now is to check the soakaways and then examine the capacity of existing drains," said Dr Ludlow. "It seems we have had more flash floods than usual and these are just too large to get through the drains."
Acknowledging that it was "extremely distressing" for Ms Reynolds to be flooded in this way he added: "Obviously, we need to take professional advice on what can be done and to work with the insurance company to find a solution. "