HEAVY flooding in South Lakeland left some residents ‘devastated’ as they tried to repair the damage left by relentless storms over a number of weeks.

On Carling Steps in Burneside, the driveway of Cheryl Major was flooded for the third time in little more than a week.

Her carpet had already been soaked through by earlier flooding and she estimated it would cost around £2,000 to replace.

“Everything else (in the house) has either been lifted high up or the house has been tanked, it has happened that often,” she said.

“It’s just horrendous. I’m sick of it now.”

Miss Major, who runs Bootleggers bar in Kendal, added she could not go to work while she was attending to the flooding so she was “out of pocket that way.”

Her mother, who lives on the same road, added: “It’s really worrying. It’s a living nightmare.”

Another Burneside resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “We are just sick of it. We really are. This flood defence (scheme) is taking forever. Why don’t we just get on with it and get it done?”

She added: “I think people have got sick of being told ‘it’s going to rain, it’s going to rain.’”

Further south, at Holme and surrounding areas, people faced similar problems.

Roger Bingham, county councillor for Lower Kentdale, said: “The floods here are as bad as I can remember, except for perhaps during Storm Desmond in 2015.”

On Trinity Drive, Holme, excess water from Holme Beck appeared to have diverted itself through a woman’s property, flooding her garden and soaking the ground beneath her floorboards.”I’m worried it’s going to flood the house,” said the homeowner, who did not wish to be named. “I’m worried about how I am going to dry it out without lifting all the flooring up. “There’s electrics. There’s gas around that corner bit - is it safe to use the gas?”

Also on Trinity Drive, Kevin Blackburn’s garden, through which the beck usually flows in a controlled manner, had flooded.

Mr Blackburn said he was ‘devastated’ and that problems on his property began during Storm Desmond in 2015. He feared flooding in the years since had damaged the foundations of his house and pointed to cracks which he said had appeared in the last six months.

“If we want to move we can’t move because nobody’s going to want to buy this and I’m just concerned by the way the house is sinking,” he said. “My wife’s just back out of hospital after having a kidney transplant and we can’t do with damp conditions.”