A single mother who had her house flooded on Farndon Road, Newark following storm Babet talks about the struggles since the flood

An appeal has been launched to help a single mum whose house flooded during Storm Babet.

Danielle Kirby-Clark was one of six homeowners whose properties flooded on Farndon Road, Newark.

The mother and her three-year-old daughter had to move out of their house for nearly five weeks.

“It was scary but I also felt like I failed my child because we were going to be homeless,” said Danielle.

Returning home from work on October 20, Danielle got messages from people saying the council had issued a flood warning so she started moving items upstairs.

“On Sunday, October 22, as my daughter and I were finishing our dinner, I got a knock on the door and as I opened the door my driveway was more or less completely flooded and he said ‘it is coming, it is coming’.

“I just quickly ran around the house like a madwoman, grabbing anything else that I thought I could save.”

The duo left the house, leaving their two cats the top floor.

Danielle said: “Lots of people said for me to go stay with them and I did that for a couple of nights, I stayed with a couple of different people, including children that Delilah knows really well.

“For Delilah was like an adventure but for me, it was really stressful, because I could see how stressful it was on the families with us staying there.”

The water, which took two days to drain out of the house, was knee-deep.

Danielle went to the house every day to feed the cats and clean the house where she could.

The family lived for a few weeks in a motorhome, which the mother admitted to have been very cold.

“I always try to make sure I do my crying once Delilah is asleep so she doesn’t look back at this and think it was traumatising.

“I just didn’t want her to look back and be a bad memory, I’m trying to keep it as adventurous as possible for her.”

The family moved to the house last week, however, the ground floor does not resemble what once was a home.

The insurance company has provided a temporary kitchen pod, which includes a sink, oven, washing machine and a little table.

A friend, Marta Lale, has created a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the duo get their walls plastered before Christmas.

To donate, go to https://www. gofundme.com/f/37h3094jvc?utm _campaign=p_cp+share-sheet& utm_medium=social&utm_source =facebook.

“It is a very stressful situation, I am guessing that everybody who has flooded it is going through the same sort of stress,” said Danielle.

“Because so many houses have flooded up and down the country, the builders said I have my wall stripped off and probably won’t see me until after Christmas.

“I have got a three-year-old and it’s Christmas, I am hoping to try and get some plaster on the walls so it is not dusty and she doesn’t have to breathe that.”