Northampton business say they've not fully recovered from last years floods
This time last year a major incident was declared in the county following Storm Bert.
A Northampton business say they've not yet recovered, after last year's Storm Bert saw his business closed for six months.
This time last year a major incident was declared following heavy rainfall as Storm Bert hit the country, with "danger to life" warnings along parts of the River Nene.
Back on the November 25 2024 the evacuation from Billing Aquadrome affected approximately 1,000 people, with 84 housed in a rest centre. The major incident was stood down on November 29.
The Northampton Christmas Light Switch on was cancelled as the storm was predicted to bring in winds of up to 46 miles per hour.
One of the businesses in Northampton affected by flooding from Storm Bert was Oriental Palace on the Causeway.
The restaurant was was hit by almost one metre of flood water.
Assistant Manager Pak Wong tells us how he felt shocked on seeing the damage:
"I just thought, oh my God, it's like, I've never seen this happen in UK before. ... I thought we are, we are finished. Lucky we are not, but at that time I think we are finished."
It was six months of work to get the business up and running again, during which staff moved on as Pak says he was unable to open and to pay people.
"It's horrible you know, image not working for six months."
He says another blow, on top of taking out loans to pay for repairs, is the increase to his insurance has gone up, and he can only insure the building and not it's contents.
"The building insurance is so expensive now, it's like triple the price of last year."
Although they have been trading for the past six months he says bookings for this December are down on what they had last year.
Flooding incidents set to increase
Experts predict we could see more flood events in future due to climate change.
According to Alan Ryan from Northants Resilience and Innovation Northants (RAIN) on average 40% of small to medium sized businesses go out of business permanently after a major flood.
By 2050 it's thought climate change could see 8 million properties at risk of flooding in England up from 6.3 million. That's one in every four properties in the country being at risk of flooding.
Earlier this year as part of the Government's Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion was committed to better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026.
Last month the government confirmed the completion of 13 new schemes in the East Midlands over the past year, with the aim of providing better protection for 565 properties.