Households across the UK could be living in temporary accommodation for months after their homes were left devastated by Storm Babet
A couple and their dog are rescued by a Coastguard team from a flooded street in Brechin, north-east Scotland are to face a lengthy clean-up process, with many likely to be in temporary accommodation for Christmas, officials have warned.
that the recovery “will be an extensive period. These houses won’t be ready for Christmas”.homeless to their local authorities and said he has spoken to many constituents who do not know where they are going to be living. Many residents who fled to the “rest centre” which was set up in a local sports centre after being told to evacuate on Friday are now being accommodated in hotels by the council. Others are staying with family members or have returned to their homes to live upstairs where there is less damage. Paul Hollingworth has spent the weekend organising relief efforts with the local Lifehouse church in Chesterfield, setting up a refuge point for people who had evacuated and co-ordinating volunteers to help people affected with practical things like hiring skips or making phone calls to insurance companies. A resident with a suitcase walks through flood water in Retford in Nottinghamshire, after Storm Babet battered the UK “There are some desperate stories. People have genuinely lost everything,” said Mr Hollingworth, highlighting the fact that many people cannot access flooding insurance since the area has a risk of flooding. The group of volunteers have also set up a fundraiser to create a pot of money that local residents can access to purchase basic household items that have been destroyed, like carpets and electrical equipment. Over £15,000 has been raised so far in less than 24 hours, with the aim being £50,000. For most people, it is likely to be a six-month process of recovering their homes, says Mr Hollingworth, who plans to keep helping the community get back on its feet in the midst of the destruction in the weeks and months to come. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. This is not a problem that’s going to go away in the next few days,” he said. The local council of Angus, home to the town of Brechin where 335 homes were evacuated ahead of Storm Babet on Thursday, says it has had more than 100 offers from people to provide temporary accommodation for those affected after it sent out an appeal via its social media channels.Local authorities have said they will be discussing with the Scottish Government how to fund the possibility of keeping residents in temporary accommodation for potentially several months. Councillor Nicol of Brechin, who is of the Scottish Conservatives, said on BBC Radio Scotland: “I’m hoping the First Minister will take pity on us and give us more money for Angus Council.” Mr Perkins has called for an investigation into what can be done to prevent the same areas from flooding again and again. The same river in Chesterfield burst its banks and flooded the area in 2007. A new major basin was then put in to prevent flooding, as well as other prevention measures such as a local flood risk management strategy published by the local council, which failed to protect against the effects of Storm Babet. The Labour MP also pointed out cuts to the environmental agency which have been implemented since 2010. Meanwhile, in Scotland, there have been questions over whether local councils could be better protected if its agency, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, should have more powers over flood protection strategies. This falls largely within the remit of local authorities, and since rivers transcend council borders, there can be a lack of co-ordination in the funding allocated to risk zones.
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