Lancaster University researchers have launched a study exploring the long-term effects of serious floods which hit East Yorkshire in June 2007.

Diaries 55 flood victims will be used to help researchers fully understand the trauma suffered by thousands of people in the region and learn about the practical problems which they have had to overcome.

Residents, many of whom are still living in temporary accommodation or caravans, are keeping a daily log of the difficulties they continue to face eight months on.

Project researcher Rebecca Sims of Lancaster University’s Department of Geography said: “The events in Hull dramatically exposed the vulnerability of urban communities in the face of major floods.

Today there are still more than 2,000 people living in temporary accommodation and more than 800 families in caravans across Hull.

“While the initial impact in Yorkshire, Humberside and Worcestershire was well documented by the national media, the extended process of physical, social and personal recovery over the coming months and years will be lost from the headlines. 

“We hope the material we collect during this research project will go some way to redress the balance, creating a permanent archive of material which will be of practical help to agencies facing similar problems in the future.”

For further information on the project go to:

http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/cswm/Hull%20Floods%20Project/HFP_home.php