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Home raised to avoid floods

Sharon Woolford with her home which has now been raised

As water poured into her mobile home, Sharon Woolford was busy evacuating neighbours from Thameside Court in Bablock Hythe, near Standlake.

She spent the day ferrying residents, many of whom were elderly, to safety in an 'aquabus' - a vehicle with huge wheels that enable it to travel through water.

Upon her return home, she found most of her furniture and belongings swimming in water, ruined.

The mobile home park is located next to the River Thames, which had burst its banks, and it took several days for the water to recede. Some residents were able to return relatively quickly.

But Sharon's mobile home was severely damaged and until recently she was among a number of West Oxfordshire residents still out of their homes following the flooding.

When her home was flooded West Oxfordshire District Council's Housing team found emergency temporary accommodation for Sharon and then helped her with finding rental accommodation.

Sharon spent almost a year in rented accommodation in Carterton. During this time her dog, Dodge, was housed in kennels. Sharon and Dodge are now settling back into their newly-renovated home.

 Sharon, 48, said: "I've had my home raised off the ground by about double the height. It's now 36 inches off the ground.

"It has flooded at the park before but it had never come inside before. A lot of people have now had their units raised off the ground and we hope that will be enough to protect our homes if this happens again."

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