A FURIOUS mum has told how her garden is still being flooded with ‘filthy’ water from overflowing drains on her street - more than a year after she urged roads bosses to fix the problem.
Frequent flash flooding has been plaguing residents on Greenock’s Westmorland Road for years, leaving parts of the pavement inaccessible to locals.
Inverclyde Council carried out work earlier this year to address the problem, but resident Roseanne Murdoch, 40, says it has done little to prevent her driveway and garden from being turned into a ‘swamp’ during periods of heavy rain.
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Roseanne and several of her neighbours have had to resort to putting sandbags outside their driveways in a desperate effort to keep water out.
The mum-of-two told the Telegraph that despite the local authority’s efforts, her children are still forced to cut through neighbouring gardens to get to school on rainy days due to the pavement being left impassable.
Roseanne said: “It’s just a mess.
“I can’t use our garden and I can’t use the drive either.
"I am fed up with it all.
“The water is filthy but it’s not sewage, so it’s clearly the drainage causing it.
“As far as I’m aware this has been an ongoing problem for decades and it just hasn’t been seen as a priority.
“But we’re in the catchment area of a school here and there are kids having to walk through that.
“During wintertime it’s flooded a majority of the time, at that time of year this place just ends up a swamp.
"It is so frustrating.”
Natalie Lepick, 30, moved to the street with her young family earlier this year and was taken aback when she saw the extent of the flooding.
She added: “We moved in over the summer and we had a baby two weeks after.
“There was heavy rainfall in September and that was the first time we saw how bad it was.
“Our downstairs neighbour actually told us to keep our car over the other side of the road so it didn’t flood.
“I was shocked at how bad it was.
“My partner had to put bags over his shoes to get out to the car and we can’t park it anywhere outside the house.
“It’s not good to have that, especially with kids around, as the first thing they want to do is jump in a puddle and we don’t know what’s in there.
“It’s really bad and something needs to be done about it.”
Inverclyde Council say they were aware of the situation on Westmorland Road and taking steps to address it.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We carried out investigatory and clearance works earlier this year which involved CCTV surveys along with deep excavations and clearance works.
"This significantly improved the situation but there may still be some issues with the pipeline further downstream through private land.
“The responsibility for the drainage system is not clear and we are working with our partners Scottish Water to try and find a solution to the problem.”
A Scottish Water added: "Following reports of flooding in Westmorland Road, Greenock, we have attended the location on several occasions and carried out all necessary checks to establish the full circumstances.
"Those checks have confirmed that this appears to be a road drainage issue.
"This is not a Scottish Water issue.
"However, we will continue to work with Inverclyde Council to clarify the situation and provide assistance where necessary."
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