I watched my home flood on YouTube

12:53pm Sunday 20th July 2008

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AS Anita Enstone and her husband soaked up the sun in Turkey last July they didn't have a care in the world.

That was until someone from South Marston posted video footage of their house getting flooded on YouTube.

She said: "It was so frustrating - we could see our house on the video but there was nothing we could do. We had to stay another week in Turkey but we couldn't think about anything but home."

The couple and their four children spent the next six months living on the first floor of their house.

"We couldn't use our kitchen until November," Anita said.

"My daughter lost her soft-top Mini, which she had only had for two months. My other daughter also lost her moped.

"I don't think the council has done enough in terms of getting things done in South Marston. The streams are still full of sticks and need to be cleaned out.

"I got very nervous when we had the heavy rainfall a month ago. We were inches away from being flooded again."

But Anita has never thought about abandoning the village.

She said: "I've spent all my life in the same street and I wouldn't want to move anywhere else."

Didier Gaignerot's pub The Carriers Arms was closed for eight weeks after the flooding.

He said the community spirit in South Marston helped everyone to get through the ordeal.

He said: "There was a good atmosphere in the village. People were helping each other.

"I think people do worry about it happening again, but you can't let it rule your life."

Robert Feal-Martinez, landlord of The Carpenters Arms pub, said the devastation of last summer was by no means the end of South Marston's flooding woes.

He said: "Just last month we were outside again piling the sandbags up.

"To make matters worse there were people in 4x4s going through at full speed. One of those was from the Environment Agency and another one was a Swindon contractor loaded up with sandbags."