Darren Ridley is always on high alert, constantly checking his phone for rain warnings \u2013 even in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur whole family is permanently on edge,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we hear rain, day or night, we\u2019re up and checking the house. I can\u2019t sleep without replaying our flood plan in my head for weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ridley\u2019s house in Folkestone floods at least twice a year. His garden far more often. Most of the floods happen at night or in the early hours of the morning. \u201cThe floods come so quickly that it\u2019s unbelievable. We often wake up to find our garden a metre deep,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
And it is not clean water. \u201cIt\u2019s raw sewage; a raging torrent that crashes in with more force than you could believe,\u201d he says. \u201cMy elderly neighbour got knocked over by a heavy timber board swept along by the flood waters. He thought he was going to drown in sewage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flood rescue in Maidstone, Kent in 2019. Photograph: Ben Stansall\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Flooding is one of the most pressing emergencies facing the UK today. More than 6m properties in England alone are already at risk from rivers, the sea, sewage or surface water. That number could rise to 8m \u2013 roughly one in four \u2013 by mid-century, as the climate breaks down.<\/p>\n
Flooding throws lives into chaos. Ridley\u2019s family lives with lasting trauma: he has PTSD and his family are, as he put it, \u201cflood-scarred\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy children grew up in sewage,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t exaggerate how disgusting and distressing it is. I\u2019ve had condoms and sanitary towels hanging off my apple trees. The garden becomes infested with insects and slugs, feeding on the filth.\u201d<\/p>\n
After each flood, Kent<\/a> county council sends a team to drain the liquid \u2013 and another team to remove the debris. \u201cBut the second team just takes one look at the condensed sewage, turns around and leaves, saying that\u2019s not their job,\u201d says Ridley. \u201dWe have to put on our protective gear and clear it ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Flooding in Witney, Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n For 26 years, Ridley has been begging the council and Southern Water to replace the failing sewer infrastructure. But, as he said, his is a small voice. \u201cThere are only three to four properties up here,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re easy to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n It is stories like Ridley\u2019s that led, at the start of this year, to the formation of the not-for-profit organisation Flooded People UK<\/a>. Its raison d\u2019etre is to enable flood victims to help each other \u2013 and to build a collective voice big enough to lobby for change.<\/p>\n By placing flooded people at the centre of flood\u2011policy discussion rather than leaving it to engineers or regulators, FPUK is challenging conventional power dynamics. Its presence, it hopes, will force policymakers, local authorities and the public to consider not only infrastructure but also the human, social and mental health impact of flooding. Its growing visibility also helps humanise otherwise dry statistics about \u201cproperties at risk\u201d.<\/p>\n Rescue workers on the road to Heather Shepherd\u2019s home in north Shropshire after the River Severn burst its banks. Photograph: Supplied<\/p>\n Heather Shepherd lives in north Shropshire on the English border with Wales. The co-founder of FPUK and architect of the UK\u2019s flood action group<\/a> infrastructure, she has been flooded six times in the past three years.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween October to March, we get a flood alert about once a month,\u201d says Shepherd, who has spent more than \u00a370,000 on flood-resistant adaptations. \u201cThat puts us on the alert for a two-hour warning that the waters are coming.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when it comes, it\u2019s an onslaught,\u201d she says. \u201cThe bottom of my drive floods up to neck-level. For up to a week, we live in the middle of a vast, unbroken lake \u2013 nothing but water as far as the eye can see.\u201d<\/p>\n Shepherd has lost much of her most treasured belongings to floods. \u201cI don\u2019t do anything to stop the water coming in any more,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no point; nothing works. Water is relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n A room in Heather Shepherd\u2019s home.<\/p>\n The trauma is intense. \u201cFor at least six months of the year, I\u2019m trapped in this revolving, repeating nightmare,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n