FURIOUS Grange-over-Sands residents are saying 'enough is enough' as homes and businesses were once again flooded during Storm Callum.

Some families had just been settling back in their homes on Windermere Road following Storm Desmond in 2015, when disaster struck again at the weekend.

Grange was one of the worst hit places in the county as incessant heavy rain lashed the area on Saturday and raised the fear of flooding in towns and villages across South Lakeland.

Water levels rose alarmingly in rivers and a number of roads, including the A591 at Prizet, near Kendal, and at Grasmere, were swamped and impassable. Virgin Trains West Coast and Transpennine services were also affected by the flooding.

In Grange Katrine Otway and her family had only moved back into their home five weeks ago when Storm Callum hit and saw them flooded out again.

"I was thinking: 'Not again', when I saw the rain coming. We are just so fed up of this. We feel deflated and let down," she said.

"Our kitchen was new and now we have to replace all of the appliances. We are currently all living upstairs until we can sort downstairs out, but that takes time."

Nearby residents are convinced that they have been been plagued with flooding problems since the South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) car park was built in 1999 opposite their homes.

Rachael Baxter, who lives on Windermere Road, and was also flooded, said that she had a knot in her stomach when she saw the weather warning. "You just get to a point of acceptance: 'Here we go again.' but now enough is enough and pressure needs to be made to get something done.

"The car park needs to change as it's one of the first places to get flooded," she said. "It doesn't help alleviate the problem at all."

An SLDC spokesman said although it owned the car park anything to do with flooding and drainage was dealt with by the county council.

Other areas of Grange were also affected with a number of business owners saying that flooding has become such a regular occurrence that they are have become used to it.

The Spar shop on Main Street was one of those hit and assistant manager Simon Nixon said: "The drains can't take the water. They're not being cleaned regularly and we need wider drains. We had some flood barriers up in our store but water still trickled in."

Stuart Higginson, from Higginson's Butchers, on Main Street, also agreed that there are serious drainage issues which did not help alleviate the flow of rain water that was deluging the town.

"Drains have been cleaned here but if the drains were cleaned everywhere, further up the hill, then at least it would be a start. It's not a solution to the problem but at least it's a start" he said.

A Cumbria County Council (CCC) spokesperson told the Gazette: "The council carries out routine gully clearance and maintenance every year, most recently in May 2018.

"There were no issues with blocked gullies in Grange over the weekend – it is the capacity of underground drains and the outlet of those drains that is a main contributing factor to the localised flooding experienced last weekend.

"The council is working closely with the Environment Agency and other partners to identify a long term solution to this issue.”

Bill Wearing, CCC representative for Grange, said proposals had been drawn up to prevent further flooding on Windermere Road and added that he was frustrated that once again the area had been hit.

"We need to keep on top of things but the process is long," he said. "There are three proposals that have been put together, one of them being an upstream proposal which would stop the quick flow of rain water from coming down into the town.

"Extreme weather has got worse over the past 10 to 15 years and we need to get a grip on this."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We understand how distressing it must be for the residents and businesses on Windermere Road to be flooded again.

"We are working closely with the Forestry Commission, CCC and SLDC to explore a range of options to reduce flood risk in the area.

"These potential options include upstream storage and measures to reduce flood risk on Windermere Road. The latest high level cost estimate for the option in the Windermere Road area is approximately £1.4m to protect 14 properties in the area and we are currently looking at its technical viability and funding arrangements

"We have shared the current options with local residents previously and will provide an update at the next community meeting."

The next community meeting will be held on either Monday October 29 or November 1 in the Victory Hall in Grange.