The aftermath of the floods last week have left several households worried about future damage to their properties.
The fire service was called to 11 address in St Albans and Harpenden when a mammoth thunderstorm hit the county last Thursday (16) night.
Other homes across the district were also badly affected and some families face more damage to their properties if a storm hits again.
Newgate Close, in Jersey Farm, St Albans, was one of the areas badly affected.
Richard Harvey, 43, who is only 5ft 9ins and lives on the close, was in water up to his thighs when he left his house at midnight to try and clear some of the water.
His car was submerged in water up to its bonnet, and when he went to drive it the following morning, water left from the night before poured inside.
It is not the first time the area has been affected by wet weather conditions, having flooded three times this year already.
Richard said: “This is almost a regular occurrence now, but I would say this has been the worst so far. It wouldn’t take much more to seriously flood the houses.
“To be honest I don’t know of anything that’s been done, but it has to be addressed.”
Minister Court in Frogmore, St Albans, also felt the impact of the storm, and Chris Mynett, 53, who has lived there for 15 years, said it was a constant problem.
He said that residents were permanently faced with flooding which was made worse by their close proximity to the River Ver and the A5183.
He added: “Some properties have faced up to 18 inches of water when it rains”
The flooding problem has been addressed by Ringway in the past but Chris said more needed to be done and he had not had any contact for six to eight months.
“We want them to fix it once and for all. I’m not an engineer or a surveyor, that’s their job! Ringway have been very proactive over the past two years and they were very keen to talk about it but since their last visit I haven’t had any contact.”
Ringway, which works on behalf of the county council, insist they are doing what they can. Divisional manager Kevin Carrol said that upgrade work to the drainage pipe was carried out last year in Minister Court.
He added: “We were made aware that a gully was still blocked.
“We subsequently arranged for an additional CCTV survey to take place in order to check the pipes. This was completed last Friday (17) and we are currently awaiting the official report of this survey. As soon as they are available, we will update the Mr Mynett accordingly.”
Residents who are suffering with drainage problems are asked to report faults via the website here.
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