Flood demolishes Sussex family's home, and 'wrecks their lives'

A flood has demolished a family's home in #Hastings. The drains were unable to handle the excess water.

Flora said: “Waking up, and hearing that noise, it was like a tsunami coming in. Now we’re homeless. Suddenly our life has been destroyed."

“At first we couldn’t get the window open upstairs, and we started to panic, but eventually we got it open, and the fire service rescued us with a ladder.”

“The whole downstairs has been totally destroyed. The oven, and fridge freezer have been knocked over, that’s how forceful the water was. All our belongings that were downstairs, all our memories, have been lost. We had been so happy, we were loving living there, and this happened so quickly."

Flora's landlord, and the fire department told her that an identical situation took place around twenty-years ago.

Flora is desperately waiting for more information from emergency housing. Flora's landlady is contacting their council, and Southern Water.

The fire service has warned Flora that her house is unsafe, and too hazardous to return to. The downstairs of Flora's house is demolished, and there is also damage from the water in the upstairs of Flora's home.

An East #Sussex Fire Service spokesperson said: “Three people were rescued from the first floor of a building using a ladder.”

“Crews wearing dry suits checked the basement too. Highways attended the area with sandbags, and we contacted the local council regarding emergency accommodation.”

A Hastings Borough #Council spokesperson said: “Our on-call senior management team were alerted to the flood late last night, and Flora was spoken to by a colleague, then just after midnight, and again first thing this morning. She was interviewed by a housing colleague this afternoon, and is being offered emergency temporary accommodation.”

Floods were upsetting many residents in the area, and were affecting many addresses, said an East Sussex Fire Service spokesperson.

Each three residents were successfully rescued by the fire service. Firepersons aided the residents onto a ladder, and out of the first-floor window. The fire department swiftly responded, in less than five minutes.

David Lee, 46, and his girlfriend Flora Storm, 44, were awakened to a loud bang whilst they were sleeping on their sofa at 10.30: PM. The couple were alarmed to see water charging in through their letterbox.

Their 10 year-old daughter's door was knocked down amid the flood's force. Their daughter was asleep until her mum went to get her, and her door was knocked down.

The family live in a property in South Terrace, in Hastings, East Sussex, #UK. The family have said their lives have been turned upside down amid the flood. The whole downstairs of the address has been demolished.