RELIEF could be on the way for residents left devastated by flash flooding.
A £56,000 flood defence project for Moores Place, off Haydn Road, in Carrington, is almost complete – after residents were hit by freak floods twice in two years.
Councillors said such severe incidents were very rare.
Maura Housley, 29, has lived in her terraced property with husband Ian, a 34-year-old print finisher, and their three children, for six years.
Their home was left under three feet of water in July last year.
Thousands of pounds' damage was caused to a kitchen that Ian had built himself – and the family had to live in a hotel for several days.
The previous summer, the kitchen was deluged by two feet of water.
Maura, a social work student at the University of Nottingham, said: "We were absolutely devastated. We couldn't live here but we actually made ourselves come back, because it was impossible to live out of a hotel with three children."
She praised the new flood scheme, which started in August and has been carried out by Nottingham City Council with Barratt Homes and Severn Trent Water.
Councillors believe the floods happen because of a dip in the road which channels water into one spot. A flood wall was installed five years ago but it was only half a metre high and was breached by the floods.
The new brick wall, which has watertight pressure gates, is one-and-a-half metres high and stretches the length of the affected six homes.
Maura added: "It's definitely been worth it.
"All the residents are probably keeping their fingers crossed that it works this time."
Barratt and Severn Trent provided £40,000 for the wall and Berridge Ward councillors Carole-Ann Jones and Toby Neal earmarked £16,000 from the capital fund for their area.
The city council had allocated £150,000 to the ward for councillors to spend on improvements in the community over two years.
Councillor Jones said: "These flash floods are meant to be one-in-100-year events but these residents have had them twice in recent years. "The council has been working to have people around the table to support these residents.
"It's a very good scheme and a really good example of different partners working together to solve what has been a really difficult problem.
"
Fay Bull, flood mitigation manager for the council, said: "We are pleased to hear that the residents are happy with work done to improve the flood resilience of their properties."
And Mark Cotes, technical director for Barratt & David Wilson Homes in the North Midlands, added: "We are pleased that through working in partnership with Nottingham City Council and Severn Trent Water, this work has been successfully completed."
