Wirral homes flooded after heavy rain breaks through garden walls (From Wirral Globe)
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Wirral homes flooded after heavy rain breaks through garden walls
9:43am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News By Craig Manning
Brian Holmes in the garden of his Birch Road home. Picture: Paul Heaps
A WIRRAL pensioner’s home was flooded after heavy rainfall burst through his garden wall.
Brian Holmes was among residents of six properties in Birch Road, Bebington, affected by the downpour on Wednesday, August 29.
The retired builder, who lives with his 92-year-old mother, said a weak garden wall was to blame for the disaster and wants landlord Riverside Housing to build one that could withstand further floods.
The water burst into his garden and demolished his shed before flowing into his home. Wood flooring, furniture and personal items were destroyed.
Riverside Housing say they will build a new wall, taking advice from a structural engineer.
Mr Holmes, 63, told the Globe: “If the walls had been designed to cope with floodwater and had proper drainage, this would not have happened.
“The wall has acted as a dam, with the water flowing over it. When it flooded it was a mini tsunami.
“I’m hoping we can get enough support to get Riverside to build a wall that can cope with future floods.”
Mr Holmes, who has osteoperosis, continued: “I’ve done nothing but clean the house for the last six days and a lot of irreplaceable, personal items have been destroyed.”
In a letter to the affected residents, Riverside Housing said: “We have considered the events and our current opinion is that Riverside is not responsible for the flooding as it appears that the cause was drainage from an adjacent road which did not cope with the rain on August 29.”
Charles Simkiss, Riverside’s assistant director of property services, said: “Last week’s flash floods did cause some damage to our properties in the Bebington area.
“As soon as we were made aware of the flooding, our engineers made sure Mr Holmes’ house was safe.
“We are keen to start work on replacing water damaged fixtures such as kitchen units and internal doors.
“However Mr Holmes has not yet agreed to allow us access to his home to carry out the repairs, despite three separate visits to discuss a way forward.
“We also offered to pay for hotel accommodation for Mr Holmes and his mother while we carry out the work, which he refused.
“We always encourage our tenants to take out home contents insurance, to safeguard against unexpected incidents such as this.
“We are sorry that Mr Holmes is not insured, however we have offered to help replace some white goods, which he has also refused.”
Comments(3)
Positive thinker
says...
10:16pm Thu 6 Sep 12
the words out of my mouth I am sure he's not the only person who's suffered in this way with all the rain we've had of late, EMPTY VESSELS make the most noise
spamfiend
says...
9:49pm Sat 8 Sep 12
So nothing to do with the sheer volume of water that occurred here then. Whilst I do have sympathy for the damage caused, surely the flood water in the final photo wasn't because of one wall surely.
I then refer to BB as his post said it all.
Ben Beaconsfield says...
11:29am Thu 6 Sep 12
1. As soon as they knew of the flooding, Riverside sent engineers to inspect the problem.
2. They want to replace damaged fixtures as soon as possible.
3. They have visited the property three times to try to discuss a way forward.
4. Mr Holmes has denied Riverside access to his home on each occasion.
5. Riverside has offered to pay for hotel accommodation for Mr Holmes and his mother while repairs are carried out.
6. Mr Holmes has refused this offer.
7. Mr Holmes was not insured for this eventuality.
8. Riverside has offered to replace some damaged white goods.
9. Mr Holmes has also refused this offer.
It all begs the question - what exactly does this man want (apart, perhaps, from his 15 minutes of fame)?
Oh, and another observation - as a 'retired builder', why didn't Mr Holmes notice a seemingly inherent weakness in the structure of his wall (his words: not designed to cope with flooding and inadequately drained) prior to this disaster taking place?