A couple has spent whopping £600k to build a huge wall to protect his house after it was flooded 11 times. The pensioner has earned the nickname King Canute of the River Severn for constructing a substantial wall to safeguard his residence from potential flooding.
Nick Lupton, 60, and his wife Anne, 50, moved into their stunningly converted 17th-century house with an acre of land on the River Severn in Pixham, Worcestershire back in 2016. But after more than 10 incidents of flooding chaos, which resulted in costly clean-ups, the pair had enough.
This frustration ultimately led them to fortify their entire property with a 7ft high flood barrier, the construction of which spanned four months, concluding just weeks before violent Storm Henk struck Britain.
Drone images depict their period property and courtyard enclosed by floodwater following the recent overflow of the River Severn.
Nick told Gloucestershire Live: “We bought the house with our eyes wide open. We’ve been flooded 11 times since 2016.”
He added: “We live in a beautiful part of the world, right next to the River Severn, with one drawback we get flooded. We finally decided to build ourselves a wall around the house.”
“We built it last summer and it took about four months to complete. We finished it in the middle of September and we tested it in the middle of October. This flood is quite a high one, it’s close to the record in 2020, so it’s a really good test of it and so far it’s stood up to that.”
Before building the flood wall, Nick and Anne added barriers in front of the doors and pumps under the floors to keep the flood water out. The couple remortgaged to pay for the flood wall and said they hoped it would add value to their home as a result.
Residents living in the area have congratulated the couple for taking action to protect their home – and said it brought to mind old medieval legends.
One said: “Nick’s a fabulous fella and we all applaud him for what he’s done – we call him Worcester’s answer to King Canute. Flooding is such a problem around here. It’s not just the fields that flood, it’s roads and homes. The powers that be must act soon to stop this misery happening again and again or people will simply move away.”
