A WORRIED daughter said she called the council 84 times as water 'roared' into the street her elderly parents live on. 

Tracy Clarke, 53, lives on Walney but her parents are still in Holbeck, where she grew up. She received a phone call from her brother on New Year's Day about water flooding Oakwood Drive. 

Westmorland and Furness council said it was taking a 'comprehensive review' of the incident.

"My parents' house, and the houses that have been affected, they have been built into the back of a field that used to be a golf course," Ms Clarke said. "The water is pouring through walls, it's coming up through driveways."

Firefighters arrived the day after to help with the situation but Ms Clarke wanted to contact the council for sandbags and inform them that after some investigation the culverts from the fields above the houses appeared to be the cause of the flooding. 

She said: "I grew up in Holbeck and I remember when that area was just fields. When new houses were built there were culverts put in place. Me and my brother went around Holbeck trying to find the source of the flood. We didn't go into the fields, but we could hear the rushing of the water coming from where there were culverts were. Actually, it was more like a roar. 

"My dad, who is 75 and disabled, he had the foresight to remove covers off the drains [in his garden]. I do believe his property would have been under a foot of water." 

Ms Clarke said that she rang the council 84 times but 'nobody knows anything.'

"Eventually my daughter found the yard, near the Premier Inn in Ulverston, had some sandbags that residents could pick up," she said.

However, Ms Clarke said that when she drove there she found that the sandbags had not been used in so long that a tree was growing out of one of them. The bags were damp and damaged the interior of her car, and they were not effective at keeping the water out, she said.

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"We've got extremely vulnerable residents with nowhere to turn and nobody willing to help. Nobody is taking control and project managing this," she said.

A spokesperson for Westmorland and Furness Council said: "Following this recent flooding incident, the council has undertaken a comprehensive review to provide clarity on the matters raised.

“The culverts identified in this instance fall under third-party ownership, and as the lead local authority responsible for Flood and Coastal Risk Management we will be liaising with the riparian owners to ensure that they undertake the necessary maintenance of these structures.

“Historically, the approach to providing sandbags to communities varied across legacy district councils and was often implemented on an ad-hoc basis. We are currently reviewing our policy as a new unitary authority to establish one which is uniform across the area and addresses the needs of our communities more effectively.

“We appreciate the ongoing challenges faced by our communities due to flooding and flood risk, and the worry this must bring. We are dedicated to pursuing all available avenues to protect our communities from these ever-increasing environmental challenges and our focus remains on the welfare of our residents and the protection of their properties.”