Number of people ‘not back to normal’ following devastating 2019 floods in Doncaster

Mayor Ros Jones confirmed that hundreds of people that were affected by mass floods across many parts of the borough were now back in their homes but 11 residents were still eligible to not pay council tax.

The mayor said that these residents qualify for council tax exemption as they are ‘not back to normal’.

People in this situation could be in temporary accommodation, rented accommodation through their insurance company or some might be living in only part of the house that was affected by flood damage.

In 2019, devastating floods cost the council over £650,000 in recovery and the equivalent of 2,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools were drained away from one borough village alone every hour for 18 days.

The devastating impact on the November floods which hit several communities in the borough such as Bentley, Fishlake, Scawthorpe, Conisbrough, Denaby, Tickhill, Intake and Balby.

The area had a month’s rainfall in just one day which led to 51 road closures, 1,200 homes were advised to evacuate and the council received 2,000 calls to their emergency helpline.

Figures also show 80,000 sandbags were issued and 700 properties were flooded or deemed ‘unlivable’.

The flood recovery and response has cost the council around £650,000. The Property Flood Resilience (PFR) Support Scheme was launched allowing flood-hit properties to receive up to £5,000 to make changes to premises and reduce damage levels should flooding happen again.

Some residents were quoted massive sums for their homes insurance following a similar flood in 2007 and Mayor Jones previously said she had been told one household had been quoted £7,500 for cover.

Mayor Jones said: “I know that we’ve still got 11 properties still receiving council tax exemption in order to get their homes fit to occupy again.

“These are insurance problems, it’s an individual thing. It’s their dealings with their own insurance companies.

“No, no one’s come back to me and said they’ve now still got an insurance problem, but neither would they because it’s their own information. But we know we’ve got some properties still receiving council tax exemption.

“We keep checking that the properties are still not habitable and we’ll be going out soon again to check.”