IT WAS a traumatic event for the Buckskin community but the chair of a newly-formed flood action group has said it has brought everyone closer together.

As previously reported by The Gazette, a group of Buckskin residents came together to form the Buckskin Flood Action Group to ensure that residents in the flood-hit area receive up-to-date information on weather warnings and work being done to avert future flooding.

The group also sits in on a multi-agency group, involving representatives from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Hampshire County Council, the Environment Agency, Thames Water, South East Water and Sovereign Housing Association, which meets up every six weeks.

The chair of the action group, Cathie Wyatt, was forced to leave her home on March 3 after she returned from a birthday party to find water levels had risen in her three-bedroom bungalow in Bodmin Close.

Cathie, who lives with her husband Martin, told The Gazette: “I think they have done all they can do with the restraints of the financial situation.

“Are we comfortable if the rain happens again to that extent? No we are not.

“There is still a lot of anxiety around the estate and there are a lot of people who are quite low at the moment. Maybe in years to come, we will get more relaxed each year it doesn’t flood. We have not been inundated with rain so we have not tested the estate to see what it can deal with.”

However, the 51-year-old has praised the flood action group and the Buckskin community, adding: “The flood action group is something positive that has come out of this.

“It is purely focused on the floods but whenever you speak to people it is about the floods anyway. I think it has brought the community together and hopefully we can introduce new people who have moved in.”

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