Storm Babet flooding hits Catcliffe homes

The River Rother breached during Storm Babet in October 2023 and spilled into homes on California Drive in Catcliffe, Rotherham, damaging furniture, appliances and personal belongings beyond repair¹. Around 120 homes were flooded in the village, according to one resident's account².

Cousins Dorothy Wood, 80, and Michael Bowler, 77, watched the river rise before it breached and flooded their home and that of hundreds of others nearby in Rotherham¹. They were put up in hotel rooms while they worked out what came next, and bids to move into a bungalow temporarily fell through¹. On 18 January their insurance gave the all-clear for a second-hand caravan, and they returned to the street, which one resident now calls "the caravan site"¹. The caravan is used as a kitchen and lounge during the day while repair work continues on the downstairs of their home, and the pair hope to be properly back in the house before Christmas, more than a year after leaving¹.

Karen Grayson, 62, an administrator from Catcliffe, said Environment Agency staff knocked on her door at 6am on the Saturday and told her to leave immediately². In her house the water came up to the downstairs windowsill, and she said the new flood defences were breached as the rain was 20cm higher than anything that had happened before². Her car was a write off, with water over the bonnet, and repairs and replacements will cost several thousand pounds; her home insurance does not cover flood damage, so she expects no recompense². She said it looks like a few months before she can move back in².

The accounts differ on the scale of the flooding: the BBC reports that the breach affected the home of Dorothy and Michael and "hundreds of others nearby in Rotherham"¹, while Karen Grayson puts the figure for Catcliffe at around 120 homes². The BBC report does not give a total for the village.

Why it matters for households

The Catcliffe case shows how long flood recovery can take for households. Dorothy and Michael spent months in hotel rooms before a caravan was approved, and their downstairs rooms were still unusable more than a year after the flood¹. Karen Grayson's account sets out the practical sequence many flooded households face: clearing ruined furniture, drying the property out, removing plaster back to brick and replacing sodden carpet². She also reports that her insurance excluded flood damage, leaving her to meet several thousand pounds of repairs herself². The Environment Agency told residents to leave immediately in her case, and she said she had time only to pack a small bag². The BBC reports that the River Rother rose in the wake of Storm Babet before breaching¹; the guide to the types of flooding sets out how river, surface water and other flooding arise, and the household flooding guide covers preparation and insurance questions. What to do when water is entering a home is covered in what to do during a flood at home.

What happens next

Dorothy and Michael hope to be back in their home before Christmas, more than a year after they were forced to leave¹. Karen Grayson said it looks like a few months before she can move back in, and that she intends to clear the house, let it dry out and consider measures such as barriers to the front and back doors². No further dates for the Catcliffe repairs or for any flood defence work have been reported.