‘We’ve lost everything’: Resident’s frustration after being left for weeks with flooded garden

A man whose garden has been left “underwater” for weeks has said he is “annoyed” that no action has been taken by the water company who he believes caused the problem.Anthony Stannard, who lives on Orchard Grove in West Lynn, told the Lynn News that a burst water main and heavy rainfall have led to flooding in his and other nearby residents’ gardens.There is so much water that Mr Stannard has seen ducks swimming on his lawn – and his elderly mother who lives a couple of doors down is in a similar situation.

He has reported the issue to Anglian Water, responsible for the burst water main, and said he was “disgusted” with the lack of action taken by the firm to get the water out of his and other residents’ gardens.“We’ve lost everything. I’m annoyed that Anglian Water said that they were going to send out tankers but haven’t,” he said.“Our garden is 30 metres long, half of it is completely underwater. Gardens have been completely destroyed and lawnmowers have been ruined.”

He explained that he has taken the matter into his own hands and has been pumping water out of his mother’s patio to ensure she can get outside.“It’s all right for me, but for people like my mum and elderly neighbours it really affects their mental health,” he added.He said that Anglian Water initially said they would deal with the issue, but it has since been passed on to the Internal Drainage Board.

A spokesperson from Anglian Water said: “We did have a burst water main at the end of January, which caused a small amount of flooding in Orchard Grove.“Our teams sent out tankers for much of February to help alleviate this, but at the end of last week it became clear that this wasn’t helping.“We held a meeting with our local networks, repair and reinstatement teams to agree a way forward – during this meeting, several local customers let us know that the flooding issues had predated the burst.“We met with the Internal Drainage Board on Friday, February 23, and their representative confirmed that they will be taking responsibility for the flooding and drainage issues on Orchard Grove.”

The Internal Drainage Board has been approached for comment.