Flooded resident hopes to be home soon

07:00 - 25-July-2008

MORE than 300 flood victims have returned to their homes since the Mail launched its Back Home campaign.

The figures showing the number of people still displaced from their homes have been released exactly a month after the Mail launched the campaign on the anniversary of the floods.

Now, 1,296 families in Hull are still unable to move back into their homes and 561 families in the East Riding remain displaced.

Since June 24 this year, 180 families in Hull have moved back in and 189 families in the East Riding have moved back home.

The Mail continues to aim to help those people by pledging to keep their ongoing plight in the spotlight and applying pressure to help overcome obstacles.

Dean Harrison who invited the Mail into his home in Wold Road, west Hull, on the anniversary of the floods to reveal the state out-of-town builders had left it in, hopes to add to the figures by moving home next week.

Since the June deluge, Mr Harrison, 44, his wife Joanne, 34, and children Nikita, 13, Natalie, 12, and Jack, seven, have lived in a static caravan in their back garden.

He said: “The floor has finally been put in downstairs, so all that really remains to be done is the plastering, then decorating.

“I think we will be back in within the next week. We might have to live upstairs, but I want to be back in.

“I now have to sleep on the floor in the caravan as the bed has had a bad effect on my back.

“We just can't wait to move back in. It's been such a long year.

“As soon as we get back in there we will feel as if a weight has been lifted.

“I still believe had we not had shoddy builders to begin with, we would have been back in our house. But now we are just trying to look forward.”

Are you still being forced to live in a caravan or temporary accommodation? If so, the Mail may be able to help you. Call the news desk on (01482) 315194 or email news@mailnewsmedia.co.uk. Alternatively, call reporters Joanna Hunter on (01482) 315178 or email j.hunter@mailnewsmedia.co.uk or Katy Wood on (01482) 315251 or email k.wood@mailnewsmedia.co.uk