supplyThere were no formal flood rescues protecting the house of an 83 -year -old woman, which was drowned during severe floods, an inquiry has heard.
Marine Gilbert was found on 21 October 2023 on 21 October 2023, “swimming in his house” at Tapton Terrace, Chesterfield, Derbishair, after a storm babett exploded his banks during the storm babate.
His death began on Monday in Chesterfield Koroner’s court.
Neil Longden, the operating manager of the environment agency for Yorkshire, gave evidence at the hearing and asked why the floods were not protected near Tapton Terrace.
“The answer can actually make something you can make, but someone has to pay for it,” said Mr. Longden.
“The problem is a possible solution, but money, and potentially planning process, can put it at risk.
“There are thousands of people at the risk of floods across the country. You will have this challenge in many places across the country.”
Mr. Longden said Tapton Terrace was susceptible to floods because land was low, many water sources came together, and the fact that there was no flood rescue.
Neighbors first described how five feet (1.52 m) of water broke their banks and surrounded their properties in tapton terraces within minutes of the river.
Mr. Longden said the Storm Babet was “one of the most important storms”, which he was involved in the intensity of rain.
Mrs Gilbert was one of at least seven people who died as a result of a storm Babate, while thousands of houses were left without electricity in the UK.
“It was a different type of storm as I have experienced earlier,” said Mr. Longden.
The inquiry heard that in 2018, a storage reservoir was used to reduce the peak flow under the rotor river during heavy rains.
Mr. Longden agreed that the reservoir took the “only important step” taken between 2007 – when Chesterfield residents first experienced severe floods – and Storm Babat in 2023.
Smt Gilbert’s son, Paul Gilbert, attended the interrogation on Monday and was told by Assistant Coronor Matthew Kewale that the cause of his death was drowning.
He First told BBC His mother called her a day earlier to call her “water in the house”.
He said: “They [emergency services] Broke the window to enter; Tried to break the door to go in – but he said that it was a danger to life and could not go into the house.
,[The next morning] Both me and my son came down. I saw the window open, looked in the window and saw something and realized that it was my mother.
“Some people who were on the road here said that water was not taken more than 30 seconds to go home and get three feet high.”
Mr. Gilbert said that he spent hours to establish flood defense at home.
He said at the time of his death that he found his mother “floating in water” when she forced her to open a window.
According to the Met Office, Storm Babat caused a three -day period on records in Midlands, with about 400 houses in Chesterfield.
Inquiry, which is expected to be for the last five days, continues.
