Monday West Sussex had a month's worth of rain over night. We woke up at 4am when we heard a loud crash, which was our waste bins (wheelie bins) falling over. Looked out the front window and the front garden and drive were already under 60cm (2 feet) of water and quickly rising towards our front door. Looking out the back, the garden was also under the same amount.

We rushed downstairs and alerted our 2 neighbours. The end house was already flooding. Called the Fire Brigade who came round about 6-7am. They said they couldn't pump any of the water away and would only help us evacuate if the house was being flooded. And basically said the house would flood.

By 10am the house was flooding, and 2 hours later the ground floor was flooded with 8-10 cm (3 inches) of water. The water actually came up through the floor, rather than in through the doors! We managed to get all belongings upstairs before this happened, and a builder in the next road lent us bricks to raise all our furniture up out of the water just in time before it flooded.

The water stayed at that level until late that night, and then over night completely drained away.

We had the insurance assessor in today to look at the damage. We have to move out for between 3-6 months into rented accommodation. All of the ground level floors have to be ripped out, the stud walls cut out and the house professionally dried before builders can repair it all and then lay new floors and decorate everything.

This is a complete nightmare and at the moment we really don't know what to think.

Not sure what internet access I will have in the coming weeks and months, so if you don't see me online much you will know why.

I've taken lots of pictures of the flooding and damage and will add some here if and when I get chance.

More heavy rain is forecast this weekend, so it could all flood again.
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Bloody Hell Dave! Get the sand bags out and consider moving.

I've not personally experienced such an event and can only imagine. Tbh, I think I would have left everything where it was and had new for old on the Policy, providing the cover was in place of course. I guess it's an automatic thing to try & preserve what you can in a situation like this.

I would imagine you both have a bit of a nightmare ahead of you & with a new addition to your family in recent weeks, I wish you all the best for the coming months. Deb sends her best wishes too m8y.

Take care & best for now.

Charlie & Debbie
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That is indeed truly a nightmare!!! Water is always causing so much damage, and you have to redo a lot of stuff after. Even if the insurance pays for the damage, you still have to live through it, like you said, moving out from your own house for longer time, and 3-6 months is f**king long, don't know if I would like to do that.

It also rains like hell in Luxembourg since 10 days, and it doesn't seem to stop, but I live up a hill, in a housing estate, and flooding is quite impossible there, and I'm really happy about that.

If I were you, I wouldn't be worried about my internet connection at the moment, we will keep this forum alive, but look after your family and your house, that's the most important to do. Doesn't matter how much this sucks at the moment.

Let us know about the progress, and if you need anything, you let us know.
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Sorry to hear this Dave, I think you did the right thing in saving everything from the flood, this should show the insurance that you did everything possible and in return they should sort things out for you quickly so hopefully you be back in before the 3 months. If you had left everything to the flood then it would be alot more time sorting it out and coming to agreements on the like for like with the insurance.

When water is coming through the floor there's not much you can do. I would look to the past to see if there's been flooding in the area before? I supposed its best a wall round the garden. Hopefully the council will do some flood prevention in the area?

All the best
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They are now saying it was more like 2 months worth of rain in one night, and the drainage systems in the whole region just couldn't cope with it all. Our ground is clay and when we dig down only a foot or so we hit a solid seam of thick clay, so there is no way for water to easily soak away. Our houses were only built 6 years ago, so we are also going to be looking to see if the original builders actually put in adequate drainage for the development, and if not sue! We definitely don't want this happening again in the future. Although longer residents in the area say it hasn't ever happened like this before.
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Hopefully they will look into upgrading the drainage system in your area? And as you say worth looking into if the original builders actually put in adequate drainage for the development also you could look into what the site was before development go back as far as you can.
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Dave, if your house is flooding within 10 years of the development being built, I'm sure they have some liability with regard to the current Status Quo. I'm 99.9% sure about this, but I think your Insurance company will deal with this fact on your behalf. Having said that, if it's a "Mickey Mouse Insurance Broker", you could be in a different league all together.

We had damage to our property due to total to$$-pot Window installers doing an absolutely cretinous install of windows, that left an 1857 built property with Limestone screed walls on 24" of solid Granite construction falling to pieces due to water penetration on the lime based plaster. The broker Deb had used was a complete tw4t & we could not claim on either the Contents insurance nor the Buildings insurance. Since having the DG windows swapped out @ the expense of the dicks that installed it, it cost us nearly £2K in fees to get it resolved via a solicitor. The only penance we had was the replacement windows would have cost nealry £5k to replace. Be sure you are with a reputable Insurance Co. that will deal with the matter at hand. Since the BS we had to deal with nearly 10 years ago, Norwich Union (now Aviva) were the only Ins. Co. that would ever have covered our Asses. - If you get screwed on this, you have our total sympathy.

Just to add, I had a win situation this year where Elephant wanted £281 for my VR6 this year, after last years fee of £230. Thankfully, because Deb was insured on her V6 Rover & the house Building & contents, I got my VR6 Golf thrown onto a Rover 75 V6 Joint Policy for £141 fully Comp with £100 excess. Win win Aviva, with a 1/3rd off It could probably a world of sh*t in 12 months time, but grab what you can when you can eh.

I really hope you're covered to the hilt, but OMG @ the crets that developed your land with inadequate drainage. Clay is a total sod for drainage. It holds more water than you could ever imagine. I mined the damned stuff for some years in CAT 775 50 Ton Off-Highway Dump trucks in the Cornish Clay Pits for Imerys, formally English China Clay: - The best clay in the world so far as the Print industry goes. A shame we have to live in a county with the highest natural Radioactive soil going for the UK.
Deb knows someone whilst she was living in Polgooth (3 miles away) many years ago, that their Geiger Counter aimed at his land moved him faster than sh*t off a shiney shovel out of the village. Maybe that's why my Pancreas is f'kd? I am not suffering from this indginity through too much Jack Daniels & I have Cancer tests to prove it.

I can only hope you have some sort of smooth transition with the outcome of this. Our thoughts are with you for the coming months & hope you are covered in every instance.

@ Don Amiga

Give DB a call sometime soon m8. Deb insists.
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We have been told it will take 3-6 months before we can have the house back in one piece. Insurance company are therefore going to pay to rent a house for 3-6 months for us and move us. We've been looking for houses to rent and found a new build just up the road that the insurance company have said they are willing to pay for, but we are now fighting to secure it as there are also 2 other flood victims trying to get it. Stressful is an understatement!
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Hi Dave
My heart goes to you and your family being flooded is one of the worst experiences any one can have. I have been there to.
I really hope it goes easy well for being flooded that is. You should get a house quickly because you have a new born baby.
Hope you did not lose a lot stuff.
Many Thanks
Andrew
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Damn, been away for a couple of days and didn't see this before now. Can only say I feel for you and yours, must be feeling like you're in your own personal hell right now. No fun.
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