21 November 2007
Yorkshire Water has been blamed for damage caused to residents' homes during summer floods in the area, a new report has said.
Conducted by the Independent Review Body, the investigation found that the water provider had effectively ignored prior flood warnings for over a decade - failing to take sufficient preventative measures to protect customers.
The effectiveness of Yorkshire Water's equipment when subjected to heavy rainfall had also been consistently overestimated by the firm, the report stated.
"Over a period of 11 years, a series of clear recommendations relating to the condition, design and operation of the drainage and pumping systems of Hull were made to Yorkshire Water," it added.
"For some of these recommendations Yorkshire Water was unable to produce any records of, or confirm action taken, in respect of this advice - we believe that had these recommendations been implemented the impacts of the floods in June 2007 would not have been as severe."
Homes in and around Hull were severely damaged by the floods, which began on June 25th this year.
Hull resident Michael Barnett, 28, died while trying to clear a storm drain of debris deposited by the flood waters.
The report found that almost 10,000 Yorkshire homes and business suffered flood damage.
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