A CHAWSON mum is living in fear of heavy rain after her home was wrecked by flood water - twice.

Forced upstairs

Melanie Gardner and her four-year-old daughter Lauren are being forced to spend most of their time upstairs because of the damage.

Landlord Spa Housing Association inspected their Little Hill home after floods struck within days of each other but has yet to take action because the leak has not been established.

"I've been told to wait until it floods again and look at where the problem is," said Melanie - a full-time mum.

"This means I am living with damp, stinky carpets and I could come home at any time to find downstairs awash with water."

The 23-year-old said water came through her patio doors, where a crack was established, but Melanie also thinks it's seeping through brickwork.

She added: "I've got no guttering so that can't help. The housing association has said it plans to erect that but I will have to wait.

"I have always been happy here but I do feel the housing association could have done more to locate the problem."

Spa Housing did send a maintenance worker to the house within 30 minutes of the first flood and it also provided an industrial vacuum cleaner and de-humidifier.

The organisation's director, Clare Huyton, told the Advertiser: "I think there has been a misunderstanding because we would not expect anyone to wait for their property to flood before we fixed a problem.

"The house is quite an unusual design and I'm aware that flash floods have caused the tenant problems in the past.

"We have fixed some of the flashing on the roof and we are planning to put some drainage in," the director said.