Cypress Gardens victim's account of flooding
08:00 - 19-July-2008
FOR me June 25, 2007 is the biggest life changing day I have ever lived. There was nothing overly unusual in the weather on Sunday and I went to sleep with no worries.
I was woken at 5.50am by an unusual gurgling noise. I was half asleep but quickly realised that it was coming from my en-suite. I opened the door and saw and smelled brown muck popping up out of the plug hole.
I later learned this was raw sewage as the pumping station had failed during the night. I became aware of the heavy rain outside and opened the window to see my road was a river and my front garden was under water. I lived on my own back then and I stood in disbelief at what I was seeing. When I look back now and I think of myself at that moment I feel sorry for myself as I had no appreciation of what was about to hit me and my neighbours alike.
Soon my neighbour Lou opened her window and shouted across to me that we were in trouble. I suddenly kicked myself out of my sleepy state, got changed and started trying to get through to the fire service.
I waited on hold for about eight minutes and was then told there were lots of problems across the county and to try to stay out of the water! I ran down the stairs to see water coming in under my front door. I put down about four tea towels in a very naive bid to save my carpets.
Two of my neighbours, Steve and Rein, were already out in the water and they helped me out of my kitchen window and into the cold, dark water that was my front garden.
At this point it must have been just after 6am and the water was about shin deep on me. We ran round knocking people's doors trying to wake people up. I then returned to my house to find the water had risen very quickly. I opened the door and it was knee deep inside.
All my furniture was bobbing around like toys in a bath. I remember staring at my double glazed French doors and the water was pouring through the middle and outside the water was crashing against them like I was on a boat. I remember calling my work and saying very calmly that I wouldn't be coming in as I was flooded. I then called my Mum.
I tried to save what I could but I couldn't really function. I moved things that weren't already wet, locked my cats upstairs with food as they were very frightened, closed my front door and stood with my neighbours on the opposite side of the road. We stayed here for hours, occasionally helping people to move things from the ground floor. We had time to save a lot of the furniture in the houses opposite me. Again we couldn't believe that the water kept rising. None of us moved our cars and all of them flooded.
Two firemen came round to see us at 10am, they told us that there was nothing they could do other than help us to evacuate. We were left in sewage water for six hours before the fire service told us all to get out as they were worried the bridge may be washed away and this was our only safe exit. The water now was waist deep in my house. I had a panic about being insured, I couldn't remember who it was with and what level of cover I had. I found the details in the kitchen and called the helpline to thankfully be told that I was insured. The hold music was Sunshine On A Raining Day We had no idea of the damage that was being wreaked on our lovely homes or the time it would be until we lived in them again.
I remember my Mum arriving she came prepared with a bag of food like the true Spaniard that she is. She was so upset; she always says to me that she will never forget the image of me submerged in the water.
I left my house at about midday the RSPCA turned up with baskets for pets so I made the decision to go and come back later. It was horrendous trying to get my two cats in the baskets. They were so spooked. The water was crashing in the house at this point and had crept up about four stairs. At this point I just wanted to go back to bed and wake up again to a normal life.
My Mum and some of my neighbours helped me out with the cats, I left with nothing else.
My auntie drove us to my Grandma's flat in Cheltenham. I remember driving literally seconds away from my home and all of the other roads being normal, no water, no distress. It was like I lived on a horror island that none of the rest of the world knew about. When I got to Cheltenham, I stripped off and had beetles and creepy crawlies all down my legs. I changed into someone's clothes and sat in front of the BBC news to see my road. I went back later that afternoon about 6pm, all of the water had gone, my beautiful home was thick with sewage, it suddenly didn't feel like home. The scale of what had hit us started to sink in but even a year on the scars of that day are still very much alive.