HOMES in part of a Fenland village face the prospect of flooding every time it rains after Anglian Water upgraded valves on a sewerage system.

Since non-return valves were replaced on the system in Manea a few weeks ago, as much as 1ft of water floods into five homes in East Street.

The problem has caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage already, but reared its ugly head again on Monday after torrential rain battered many parts of Fenland.

However resident Roger McKew - whose house is one of the worst affected - claims Anglian Water will not sort the problem.

He said: “The village has a very old sewerage system but all the new estates have been joined onto it and it cannot cope any more.

“The middle section of the house floods by as much as 1ft and outside it floods by about 6in.

“The problem started when Anglian Water replaced the non-return valves on the sewerage system. Since then, when we have a downpour the water doesn’t drain and it has nowhere to go.

“We have complained to Anglian Water, but it doesn’t seem to be interested.”

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water confirmed that Mr McKew had contacted the company on August 2 and August 23.

“Each of these time periods were also subject to extreme weather conditions,” she said. “So we believe that the flooding is an adverse weather issue as opposed to any fault of the system.”

She also said: “We do not believe that the new non-return valves are the issue. However, on both occasions he called he didn’t tell us he believes the problem to be caused with the valves.

“I have spoken to the area manager and the technician and they are happy to visit and discuss the issue. We are happy to remove them if that’s what he would like, we would advise him that this would cause him more risk of flooding.”

• Non-return valves are installed between homes and the sewerage system to prevent backflow.