A HOMEOWNER is cleaning up after more than 3ft of sewage poured into his kitchen for the second time in two weeks.

Darren Goff had to pull out cupboards and electrical appliances after the drains near his home, in Bank Lane, Knuzden, overflowed and flooded into his kitchen after heavy rain earlier this month.

He has not been able to live in his house since then and has been staying with family nearby while his house dried out.

But he is having to clean up again after another heavy downpour caused his kitchen to flood again.

Two years ago his property needed extensive repair work after flooding caused his living room floor to sink.

Darren, a kitchen designer for MFI, said his insurance costs have more than doubled in the last two years and the costs look set to rise again after two further claims for the two recent floods.

He said: "The damage this time is not as bad as two years ago when some of the supports were washed away. It was nine months before I could move back into my house after that.

"But it has still caused me real problems. United Utilities have been out cleaning up and they have compensated me for the previous flood, but the compensation is nothing compared to the disruption this has caused." He added: "Something has to be done about the drains in this area because they just can't cope when we have rain like we've seen this week."

A neighbour, who was also affected by the flooding, but did not want to be named, said: "It could take months for the kitchen walls and floor to dry out. All my kitchen has had to be ripped out and the plaster has come off the walls."

A spokesman from United Utilities said: "The sewer network dates back to Victorian times and is simply not designed to cope in exceptional weather conditions. We appreciate this is very unpleasant and our priority is to help our customers clean up as quick as possible."

He said: "We are currently investing more than £50million in the North West on schemes targeting properties which have been repeatedly affected by sewer flooding and obviously we have to prioritise these cases. We have applied for further funding from the industry regulator, Ofwat, to continue improving the network in areas such as Knuzden and are awaiting a decision."