'Every time it rains, my daughter is filled with anxiety and watches out of the window'

Worried families in one Greater Manchester town are watching on as Storm Henk brings more wind and rain across the region.

People living in homes that run alongside the River Irwell in Kearsley, which divides the area from Prestolee village, say they have spent years campaigning for flood defences but feel they have been ignored. Despite two major floods in 2015 and 2020 that saw dozens of homes in the community wrecked by floodwaters, there has been no action to protect those living on Riverside Drive.

Riverside resident Sean Scoales, who was out checking the river levels after today's flood warning, said: "My daughter watches the river out of the window every time it rains heavily. After what happened in 2015 and 2020, she gets anxiety just from seeing it rise."

Try MEN Premium now with our amazing New Year offer... just click here to give it a go.

This flood-related anxiety, which many in the Riverside community share, has previously impacted Sean's daughter's grades at school, something which worries him. He added: "She is stressing over something like that, when she should just be chilling out at her age."

After each serious flood, affected residents have been forced out of their homes for up to 12 months while their ground floors are stripped back to the breezeblocks in order to dry out. Although flood insurance covers much of this cost, Sean says that people lose possessions that money cannot replace.

Families have fought for years to get an answer to the ever-present threat of flooding, but have got nowhere without funding for any flood prevention measures, Sean says. Standing in a deep puddle next to the Irwell, community organiser and Chair of the Riverside Flood Committee, Karen Smith, said there had been