Media personality Christine Hamilton said Storm Bert has brought the worst flooding in two decades after her kitchen was submerged in two inches of water.
Mrs Hamilton, who came third in the first series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2002, shared footage on social media of her husband, former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, bailing water out of their home in Hullavington, Wiltshire, on Sunday evening.
“We were literally bailing out water constantly for three hours, just to try and keep the level down to what it was,” Mrs Hamilton told the PA news agency.
Nothing compared to others but we’ve got a little problem - bailing out with dustpans we are just managing to keep abreast of the #incoming rain water! Neighbours with pumps etc can’t get through #Floods on the roads to left & right! #Marooned #KeepCalmAndCarryOn pic.twitter.com/ODx38nV7Ce
— Christine Hamilton 🥂🎪❤️ (@brit_battleaxe) November 24, 2024
“We had two inches of water in the back kitchen, and then if we stopped bailing for two seconds, the water would climb even further.”
Mrs Hamilton said some friends attempted to bring the couple a pump to help them remove the water, but it was “impossible” to reach the house due to the flooding.
The video posted on X, formerly Twitter, shows water gushing into the couple’s home as Mr Hamilton, who was the leader of Ukip from 2020 to 2024, bailing water with a dustpan.
“Here it is gushing through the back door… I’ve stopped for a moment we’re now losing the battle… but we can’t do this all night,” Mrs Hamilton is heard saying in the footage.
“Oh dear – onwards.”
Despite her situation, Mrs Hamilton said she and her husband are the “lucky ones” as she knows neighbours “facing horrendous problems”.
“We’ve been one of the lucky ones, well, unlucky in a way,” she said.
“The problem with us was we’ve been here 20 years, and we’ve never had ever, ever had flooding before.
“We’ve had so much rain over the last weeks and months that the ground is waterlogged, and when Bert arrived, it just couldn’t cope.
“The water just came sort of rushing in from from the ground.
“We’re going to have to move some furniture and to stop it rotting but thankfully everything is drying out.”
Storm Bert resulted in hundreds of homes submerged in water and roads turned into rivers, with winds of more than 80mph recorded across parts of the UK over the weekend.
Several rail operators cancelled services on Monday while more than 160 flood warnings remain in place.
More than 150 flood warnings and 197 flood alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency in England, with a further 10 flood warnings and 21 flood alerts in place in Wales.
