Doncaster mum's heartbreak after home floods for second time in five years

Lavina Raywood had only moved back into her property in Stainforth just before Christmas, having lived with her daughters in a static caravan in the garden since flooding devastated the home in 2019.

Now, melted snow has seen water pour into her home in the village once more – the latest in a string of tragedies for Ms Raywood who lost her husband to cancer three years ago.

She said: “I’ve been left to deal with the flooding on my own as the council and Environment Agency dismissed my concerns.

"I lost my home in November of 2019, my businesses in 2020 through Covid and my husband to cancer in 2022.

"Four weeks ago I thought my life was looking up as I’d just managed to move back into my house after living in a caravan for nearly five years.

"How wrong was I because I’m back in that two berth caravan with my two young daughters.

"I’m a proud woman I don’t want sympathy or hand outs but I can’t keep living in fear of flooding.”

Ms Raywood, 49, told the BBC: "I'd just managed to get myself round and have my first Christmas in this house in five years and now it's all gone again."

The house that Ms Raywood purchased with her late husband Frazer, was originally flooded in 2019 along with a number of other properties in Doncaster.

The family took the decision to pay for extra renovations to try to prevent it happening again.

Ms Raywood said: "The water came up to our knees in the house back then so we raised the floors by a foot.

"I've put in underfloor heating too.

"It's taken years to do it properly but the water still came in.

"I'd only just had the carpets down three weeks so I ripped them up. I wasn't going to let them get damaged.

"The water got into the plasterboard and the kitchen which I've only cooked one dinner in."

The property was one of three affected by flooding off Station Road, behind Doncaster Greyhound Stadium.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that five fire crews had attended Station Road in Stainforth after a call was received at 12:27 GMT about rising water levels.

The crew pumped water away into a nearby storm drain until the water level had reduced.

Ms Raywood has no doubts about the reason for the flooding risk.

She said: "The dyke is just not designed for the amount of rainwater that it takes.

"Whenever it rains or if it snows, the water has to go somewhere."

City of Doncaster Council said it had been "working throughout the day and night to manage the flood risk caused by the heavy rainfall and snowfall".

It added: "We have been advised by the Environment Agency that this was not river flooding, meaning it did not happen as a result of the nearby river levels but was the result of active and deliberate damming of a drain which we will be actively investigating and will take appropriate action when the cause is known."

She added: "This is heartbreaking. I don't want to go for the next five years living out of my home again."

Despite the flood risk, the family has no immediate plans to leave the property.

Ms Raywood said: "It's Catch-22. I can't afford to move.

"Nobody would want to buy the house. I love it but I can't keep going through this."