LANCASHIRE FLOODS: '˜100 days on and I've still not got a kitchen'

Yet none of it could ever be fast enough for the scores of families still not able to return to their flood-ravaged homes more than 14 weeks after the Boxing Day deluge.

Of the 101 communities affected by the disaster, most are still feeling the after-effects of the most damaging floods in a generation.

And in one of the worst-hit parts of the county, the village of Croston, it could be many months yet before things return to anything like normality.

“There are dozens of people who still haven’t been able to return,” said parish councillor Cath Almond. “You only need to walk through the village at night to see how many properties have no lights on. But everyone is being positive. It’s just taking time.”

Cath’s home in Grape Lane was flooded and, while most of the repair work has been done, she is still waiting for a kitchen.

“The dehumidifiers have only just gone and I’m not putting the carpets down until the new flood barrier is ready,” she added. “Once that is finished I’m confident the village won’t flood again - at least I hope it won’t.”

Cath was one of dozens of people from flood-hit parts of the North who were invited to 10 Downing Street two weeks ago to receive a personal “thank you” from Prime Minister David Cameron for the part they played in the huge flood relief operation.

“It was a real privilege, but there are lots in the village who are more worthy than me.”

The flood barrier, on the River Yarrow, is due to be completed by next month.