Flooding damage - help !!

Rhino666

Hi

Firstly, I apologise for placing this thread in the DIY section but could not think of a more suitable slot for it.

When it rains heavily the rainwater backs up in the main drain that runs close to my property. Eventually the water comes up in the road gulleys outside my house and completely floods the road. In addition to this a main drain annex that sits in my front drive floods and the water flows through my attached garage and foundations. This situation happened six times to my knowledge last year. There is danger on the road and my garage has subsidence damage.

Basically the 9 inch main is too small to contain all the water produced in storm conditions and there have been problems at this house for as long as any neighbour can remember (20 years +). Severn Trent and highways have cleared gulleys, cut roots, etc but the underlying problem is not sorted. Severn Trent who are responsible for the mains will not assume any responsibility.

Can anyone suggest my best course of action ? I was thinking of going through house insurers first and as a last resort using a solicitor but any other ideas would be gratefully received.

ormus

get all the neighbours to form an action group and pester the life out of severn trent until they do something.
protest outside their HQ.
threaten legal action.
badger the local council too, and get the local press/tv on side.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

We had this problem when we moved into a new build eight years ago,the main drain was too small and to top it all the sewer which was ran for the whole street and ended in our garden would overflow and flood our paths and driveways.You can imagine the mess and smell.
We tried the water company,builders and enviromental health to no avail.Its as if you are talking to a brick wall.In our case we got so fed up we moved after 6 years of it.I dont know who could help you if this has been going on for so long,I wish you luck though.I know that the problem where I used to live is still ongoing.

Rhino666

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

We had this problem when we moved into a new build eight years ago,the main drain was too small and to top it all the sewer which was ran for the whole street and ended in our garden would overflow and flood our paths and driveways.You can imagine the mess and smell.
We tried the water company,builders and enviromental health to no avail.Its as if you are talking to a brick wall.In our case we got so fed up we moved after 6 years of it.I dont know who could help you if this has been going on for so long,I wish you luck though.I know that the problem where I used to live is still ongoing.

I didn't want to make the thread overlong by going in to too much detail but I have had sewerage problems as well. The two main drains run about four feet from my property and as in your case I take the brunt of problems for the whole catchment area.

You can imagine the stress and hassle that this has caused and having finally worked out what is causing the problems it is absolutely unbelievable that the service provider concerned is not prepared to take responsibity.

I really hope that when I move I do not pass on this legacy to the next owner of my property.

ormus

try the environmental health dept too, raw sewage in the street?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

ORMUS said"try the environmental health dept too, raw sewage in the street?"
We got the enviomental health out three times,when the sewers flooded and because it all emptied out in our garden and garage and around or property and not on the public highway they said we would have to take the matter up privately.They did say they would approach the water company, council builders ect.and told us not to clean up ourselves but to get professionals in for health reasons, but that was all that could be done.We spent a lot of money having drain cleaners to pump the drains out after a back up flood and the water company did say,after inspection that the outlet pipes ect were too narrow but no one would take responsibility.