Towns mark flooding anniversary

A major flood prevention scheme in Lincolnshire could be just months away, the Environment Agency has said.

On the first anniversary of floods which damaged towns like Louth and Horncastle, officials underlined the amount of work that had been done.

The river Lud has been mapped and cleared and plans for a floodwater storage facility were being prepared.

And while residents acknowledged the agency's efforts, many said they were still worried when it rained.

Community fears

Days of heavy rain caused the Lud to burst its banks, leaving hundreds of homes awash.

Louth resident Sue Dodge said she had only recently been able to move back into her home.

"It is great to be home but there is still that uncertainty about the future so it is vital we are protected.

"Something has been done about the river, we can't live in fear every time it rains".

Bad weather

Ian Russell, from the Environment Agency, said it had cleared debris from de-silted areas of the river and had completed a computer model of water flow.

But the main project was a storage facility to hold flood waters and an application for funding was likely to be submitted later in the year.

He said: "This has been tried successfully in other areas and in the next couple of months we will be submitting a report which will lead to a bid for money.

"In the meantime, along with other work, we have worked up this computer model to show us what changes to the river will do and give us an idea of how it will react in bad weather."