A MUM flooded out by Storm Babet told of her relief at finally getting home – eight months later.
Hayley Duggan and her family are thought to be the first victims of the devastating storm to be allowed to move back in.
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Their lives were washed away in an instant when a nearby river burst its banks and poured into their street in Brechin, Angus.
But after months of stress they’re now unpacking and settling back into their revamped ground floor pad.
Charity worker Hayley, 36, said: “We’re very, very happy to be home. And we’re back in much sooner than I ever dared to hope.
“After talking to others who had been through the same experience I thought we would be out for at least a year.
“It feels really great to be home. We love our house. There is nowhere as comfortable as your own place. It’s lovely to be back and have it all done up and new.”
But Hayley admitted the trauma caused by the horrific storm has left its mark on her and she is nervous about history repeating itself,
She said: “The possibility of it happening again still hangs over you.
“It makes me feel a little bit unsettled and a little bit unsafe. I’m going to be anxious every winter now.
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“If I was a renter, the way I feel at the moment I probably wouldn’t have come back.”
Storm Babet claimed three lives across the UK and battered Brechin with a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours last October.
Hayley spent the night of the storm at her mum’s with her son, aged five. Her husband, who asked not to be named, stayed behind.
He was stunned when he looked outside and saw water had reached as high as the windows in the back garden.
While the raging torrent at the front swept everything away, and even wrote off his car that was parked in the drive.
He fled and cops kept the family out until all the water had finally gone later on that day.
Devastated Hayley couldn’t believe the state of the place when she saw it for the first time.
She said: “It was an absolute mess. There was mud everywhere, inside and outside and it stank.
NURSE IN LIMBO HELL
BY STUART PATTERSON
HAYLEY’S neighbour June Soutar is still battling to get her house fixed up eight months on from Storm Babet.
The floorboards are still ripped up, there are watermarks on the walls and the place reeks of dampness.
But the granny claimed her insurers are refusing to pay up so she’s stuck in limbo.
She said: “My hair is falling out from the stress. Every single day is a fight.
“All I want is to get back to normal, but I don’t see an end in sight to any of this.”
June, 60, fled her home on the night of the flood and was devastated when the place was trashed.
She spent weeks on her daughter’s sofa before she moved into an Airbnb and then temporary accommodation.
But months on she feels she is no further forward and has no clue when repair work will finally be done.
She says her insurers are claiming there is rising dampness in the house and so they’ve hit a stalemate.
The senior nurse said: “I’ve not been able to work since all this happened. I can’t stop crying all the time. But no one seems to care.
“It feels like a never-ending battle.”
“It was just heartbreaking. Because it’s your home it felt like an intrusion. It felt like the storm had invaded your life and destroyed your personal space.”
The water reached more than a foot up the walls and Hayley hated seeing what it had done to her son’s stuff.
She said: “All his toys had been in his room. They floated around. A little sandcastle bucket had floated through. A football had gone elsewhere.
“It made me really sad to picture all the water in the house. Everything was everywhere.”
Very, very stressful time
Hayley Duggan
Hayley got onto her insurance before she knew the extent of the damage to the house because she wanted to get the ball rolling.
Eventually contractors took over and the place was stripped back to a shell.
Her contents alone cost almost £30,000 to replace and she needed all new furniture. She also got a brand new kitchen.
The back garden still needs work done to it and the family reckon holding barbecues out there will be when they finally feel that they’re back to normal.
Hayley said: “It’s been a very, very stressful time.
“But in the grand scheme of how things could have been we’ve had quite an easy ride getting the place fixed up.
“It’s not been easy but in relative terms we’ve been quite fortunate.”
Around 400 households and up to 1,000 people were affected by the storm in Brechin alone.
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Work is still ongoing at dozens of homes in the town that were blitzed by floods and parts of it are still near deserted.
Angus Council have so far been given almost £7million from the Scottish Government to help tackle the damage.
