Sunderland mum’s despair as torrential rain causes damage to her home following flooding

Claire Johnson was self-isolating on Tuesday, October 5, after testing positive for Covid-19 when water began flooding into her home.

Heavy rain which sparked a yellow weather warning from the Met Office combined with blocked drains outside of Claire’s Washington Road home caused an issue while traffic going through the flooded road caused waves to flow down, leaving Claire’s family to find anything they could in an effort to stop the water.

The 38-year-old said: “The drains outside were blocked however the water was nowhere near our doorstep until cars and buses kept trying to go through it.

"They were sending waves down to our front garden which then caused the water to enter our house.

"The drains were so bad that my husband and 13-year-old son had to go outside to try and find them, lift the covers and try to unblock them to ease the water.

"We were scrambling around the house to get bedding, towels, clothing etc. to put them at the front door to try and block the water coming in.”

Claire has revealed the extent of the damage that the water has caused to her home and revealed that most of it will need to be replaced.

She added: “You just don’t think that it will happen to you and no one was willing to help apart from one stranger, everyone could see that we were struggling yet cars just continued to drive through it.

"We just had new wood flooring put down but that is all ruined, my son’s bedroom carpet is destroyed and some electrical equipment like laptops were on the floor too.

"The water was pouring in from the sockets, everything is totally saturated and most of the stuff is going to need replacing.

"It is kind of a good job that I’ve got Covid and therefore were actually in the house or else it would have been a lot worse.

"I just think that the drains need to be checked and cleared out a lot more, especially with the amount of leaves and rubbish on the roads that causes them to be blocked.

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