Residents in Wainfleet say they are not prepared to watch and wait for their homes to be flooded again. Three homes were flooded in the aftermath of Storm Babet, and now residents have held a public meeting to come up wth an action plan to get the Environment Agency to do the work they say is needed to keep them safe. Skegness and Boston MP Matt Warman has reassured them the EA will be held to account on the recent flooding.
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00:00 Residents in Wainfleet say they are not prepared to watch and wait for their homes to be flooded again.
00:08 Three homes were flooded when the river steeping overtopped in the aftermath of Storm Bobette
00:14 and with sedge levels building, residents say they are worried.
00:18 Ahead of a new storm heading their way this week, residents crowded into the Walpac Pub to come up with an action plan.
00:24 "I think that's the case because our councillors know the problems, they know there's more dredging that's done, they know Matt Warman promised money's no issue, we'll get it all done."
00:34 "Wainfleet's top priority?" "Yeah, Wainfleet's priority and I'll have a meeting when the work's been done. They're saying the work's been done, where's that meeting?"
00:46 "What do you think of the turnout today?" "It was a wonderful turnout, it's showing that more people are interested in what we're doing.
00:54 "In 2019 when we first instigated the group, we had about maybe a dozen, 15 people, but today I don't know what we've got, maybe 40 or 50."
01:06 "Now there's been a lot of criticism of the EA, what would you tell them that you need?"
01:12 "We need them to get the management of the river right, get all the silt out and look at why we're getting flooded on a regular basis.
01:22 "We know global warming's happening, we know we're getting these storms, if they're blaming that then they've got to do something to alleviate it."
01:30 "What next?"
01:32 "Well next we need the river, the dredging work finishing and then the dredging work that they have done, putting down to the original level that the river was when it was designed and built.
01:44 "The river is not a river, it is a drainage system designed to drain water from the fenland and the building and it needs keeping smooth and clean to do its job, drainage."
01:58 "Now you've also asked the community to get behind you and you're planning to send emails out aren't you?"
02:06 "Yeah we're going to send emails out to certainly Matt Warman and the Environment Agency and probably the council as well, we're looking into that."
02:17 "How are you feeling now?"
02:19 "I think we've got to demand that the EEA actually do what they've been paid to do, we cannot carry on like this in Wembley and the whole of the country, it needs to be sorted out and sorted out now."
02:31 "Are you still feeling worried?"
02:33 "Oh god yes, certainly yeah, if it rains, I didn't sleep very well last night, I think it's going to rain, I can't go to sleep."
02:42 Following the meeting we spoke to MP Matt Warman who reassured residents he's on their side.
02:50 He said the Environment Agency will be held to account on the recent flood threat.
02:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]