A FAMILY have been left devastated after their adapted home was struck by flooding and everything "left completely ruined" in the early hours of Friday morning.
Paul Matthews, along with partner Lindsey Shaw and their two children, Emily, five, and Shakila, nine, woke to find their Eston bungalow flooded at around 3am.
Speaking to The Northern Echo, Mr Matthews said they had only become aware of the flooding after their daughter's ventilator machine started beeping.
Emily, who has the rare neurological condition - Aicardi Syndrome and is wheelchair bound, requires a specialist equipment including her ventilator to keep her comfortable.
But Mr Matthews said the majority of this equipment is likely to be unrecoverable owing to the amount of water in the home.
Mr Matthews said: "I woke up at about 3am to a beeping noise and stepped into around four inches of water.
"I went to check on Emily and just didn't know what to do. We called the fire brigade but as soon as you opened the door lots more water rushed in.
"When the fire brigade had arrived they said it was the worst incident of flooding they had ever seen."
The family moved into the bungalow on Trunk Road around five years ago in order to accommodate the needs of daughter, Emily.
They had recently spent money on renovating parts of the home and around two years ago, had Emily's bedroom extended and wet room fitted.
Mr Matthews, who described seeing countless personal possessions left floating and furniture rotting, said the family had been left with very little.
He said: "It's our whole life, the entire contents of our life was in that house. It's just gone, we are going to have to start again.
"The water in the garden was around 4ft deep. It was like a film, when it happened it just felt like a film - it was horrible."
A GoFundMe page has since been set up in aid by a friend of the family and has so far achieved almost £5,000 with almost 300 people donating so far.
Mr Matthews said: "Without that I don't know what we would have done. We couldn't be more thankful.
"It is nice to say that there are people out their who are willing to help us."
A spokesperson for Redcar and Cleveland Council said: "Our sympathies are very much with this family who have a disabled child and our officers have worked tirelessly to ensure they have a specially adapted home to move into this evening.
"Our Occupational Therapy Service has also ensured specialist equipment is provided.
"We will continue to work closely with landlords, Beyond Housing, to ensure this family has the help they need.
"Our highways officers have been out all through the night and all through the day to protect people’s homes during the downpour and we will continue to do so.
"We are also working very closely with our partners at Northumbria Water, Cleveland Fire Brigade and The Environment Agency to deal with this flooding with the Cleveland Emergency Planning Unit.
"Our highways team continually inspects roads and drainage and improvements are made routinely. However, heavy rainfall can always cause problems which our trained teams respond to as a matter of urgency.
- To donate to the family's cause - click here
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