Pensioner forced to wear wellies in her 'swamp' garden after blocked drains flood street

Kate Walker, 69, of Greenacres, off Liverpool Road, Hutton, said her back garden resembles a 'swamp' after recent heavy rainfall.

Mrs Walker said she reported blocked drains on her street to Lancashire County Council, who maintain the road. But the pensioner said her pleas have "fallen on deaf ears".

Mrs Walker's bungalow backs onto Fensway, a road which becomes flooded when it rains, leading to a surge of water entering her garden.

"It's every single time it rains, my back garden gets waterlogged", said Mrs Walker.

"You can't walk on the grass for days afterwards because it's soaked through, like a sponge. You have to paddle through. It's ridiculous.

"It was even like this in the summer after it rained, so we couldn't enjoy sitting out in our own garden.

"But now it's winter, it's just going to get worse and worse. Last week, my garden was under an inch of water.

"We have to walk through our back garden to reach our driveway at the back of our house and it's like a boating lake.

"You have to wear wellies to wade through it, but the Council don't seem to think there's a problem.

"We've lived here for 23 years, but it's just got really bad in the last two years. I think there's a problem with the drains getting clogged.

"They told me they'd send someone out to look into it but it doesn't seem to be much of a priority for them, because no-one's been to visit."

Mrs Walker said she first reported the problem to Lancashire County Council in August.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We're grateful for people reporting problems such as this and we did clean the drain which was reported as being blocked in August.

"As the same drain has been reported again we will investigate further in case there is an underlying problem."