'Flooding has devastated my grandma's home'

Residents in a Lincolnshire market town have described the devastation after dozens of homes were flooded.

Some said water rushed through their homes without warning after the South Forty Foot Drain, in Boston, overtopped its banks.

Heather Ainsworth said her 91-year-old grandmother's home was badly damaged, along with many of her possessions.

More than 200 homes have been hit by flooding across the county and a major incident was declared on Monday.

Ms Ainsworth said her grandmother did not want to leave her home.

"We are going to try and get her to move out, but at 91 she's refusing. She can stay upstairs tonight, and then we will go from there," she added.

"Pretty much everything in here will have to be destroyed – all the white goods are no longer usable."

Andy Pearson said he was woken by a neighbour banging on the door and came downstairs to find several inches of water in his home.

Some residents have also expressed anger that a pumping station designed to reduce flooding in the South Forty Foot Drain – which is connected to the Haven by a lock and sluice – was decommissioned several years ago.

Daniel Withnall, from the Black Sluice Drainage Board, said: "We believe there are two pumps and engines in there that could quite easily be reinstated.

"I believe it would have prevented the flooding we have seen overnight to these properties."

However, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency said a "rigorous study" had been carried out into flood risk, including the role of the pumps, between 2012 and 2016.

"Based on the evidence and following a trial period of changes to how the Environment Agency operate the lock and sluice, the joint decision was made to decommission the pumps in October 2018," the spokesperson said.

"The navigation lock and sluice combined can discharge the same if not more water from the South Forty Foot Drain than the pumping station."

There were 20 flood warnings in place across the county on Tuesday evening, along with 29 flood alerts, including for the South Forty Foot Drain.

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