The Coton Manor flats in Shrewsbury are feeling the effects of torrential rain and a fast-rising River Severn. Residents have been pumping out water night and day, and some are moving out temporarily in the hopes of getting a dry night's sleep.
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00:00 So my name's Sue Williamson, I'm one of the ground floor tenants of Coton Manor.
00:05 Yeah, and is that a pump that's underneath your flat?
00:08 Yeah, so that is my kitchen and my living room window right there, so in between the two.
00:17 Are you worried about what's going to happen later?
00:20 I am a little bit, however because of what we've got in place now, my mind's a lot more at ease than it could have been.
00:28 But obviously after everything that's happened in 2022, it does still cross my mind that it could be a repeat.
00:35 Yes, absolutely. So, how easy is it to sleep with that thing pumping out of you?
00:41 I haven't been to sleep yet! I'm leaving here today to go to a hotel because I can't bear it anymore.
00:47 Well, I'm Tom Fountain, one of the directors of Coton Manor.
00:52 And Tom, you have got together as a group of residents to pay for the pumps.
00:58 About two years ago, we created a right to manage group.
01:03 So all the leaseholders got together and tenants got together and we now manage the property.
01:09 We were professional advisors, but we now run the property.
01:14 And about two years ago, each ground floor resident was offered a grant from the local authority, I think it was about £5,000.
01:26 Obviously, a single household can't do much for £5,000.
01:31 So we managed to get everybody clubbed together, pool the £5,000, and now we've got £70,000 available at the moment.
01:39 For which we managed to install the pumps in the basement. So we now have got six heavy duty pumps in the basement to pump the water out.