By Lisa Ramsden
Just over a week after dangerous floods engulfed parts of Newcastle, one of the residents whose home, like countless others, was threatened, says she and her neighbours are “living on tenterhooks.”
Debbie Biggerstaff was among those to outline their concerns when Environment Minister Andrew Muir unexpectedly arrived at Sunningdale Drive on Saturday. She says more storms are predicted, and until she and her neighbours receive “truthful and honest answers” about what led to the unprecedented volume of water rushing past their homes “from 8 o’clock in the morning to after five in the evening,” the situation will remain difficult to contend with.
“We know there are storms coming, so basically we’re now just living on tenterhooks, in a state of dread,” she said. “We know we were very lucky on the 19th of October, but still, what we did experience was worrying, and that’s putting it mildly. When floodwater can rip out huge chunks of tarmac, then it shows you the strength of the flow.”
“They have patched up the road, and some gulleys have been cleared, but apart from that there have been very little obvious signs that boots are on the ground and people are physically investigating what happened, and what went so badly wrong,” she added.
Debbie said she and her neighbours had called for an urgent site meeting with all the relevant agencies over a week ago, but had yet to hear back. “What we went through was bad, and now our fear is that whatever led to that extreme volume of water coming through has not been addressed. The next time there is a warning for heavy rain, what state will we be in?”
She also described a sense of unease among residents who experienced the recent flash flooding. “We are now wondering what will happen the next time. Will it be the same again? Or will it, as we fear, be even worse? There may be e-mails and phone calls being made, but people on the ground, physically assessing the situation and the damage, would, in my opinion, paint a far more accurate picture.”
Debbie added, “I really worry it’s a case of departments passing the buck, and, as far as I can tell, nothing has changed up there. The forest is still a mess, trees have been cut down, which does not help matters, and then on the infrastructure side of things, the storm drains near our properties were clearly not working. It’s a shambles.”
Her husband Karl had his car written off because of flood damage, and Debbie emphasised, “We need action, not pledges. Here we are, nine days down the road, and nothing has happened. We are getting told ‘Here’s what we are going to do, and also here’s another thing we are going to do,’ but nothing has happened.”
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