Homeowners live in fear of another downpour as heavy rain caused muddy water to rush into back gardens from an overflowing drain at Horton Hospital.

Helen from Banbury told BBC Radio Oxford her 'horrific' story. She said that muddy brown water gushed down her garden steps on Sunday from drains that appear to be blocked at the nearby Horton Hospital.

In a video sent to the BBC Helen said: “Horton hospital this is not funny, we are absolutely sick to death of this. Do something about your drains.”

This is not the first time water has filled her garden, rain has caused the drain to overflow three times in the past few years.

Helen explained that she lives at the bottom of a hill that backs onto the Horton Hospital. A drain in the corner of one of the hospital car parks overflows when it is completely blocked.

The muddy water gushes down a footpath into Helen's garden causing her and her neighbours to get the full force of the water.

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Helen told BBC Radio Oxford: “Luckily it didn’t come into the house, but unfortunately every time it happens it causes a huge amount of mud over our patio and steps all around the garden.

"Us and our neighbours have dogs, so it is a case of having to get out there straight away as soon as it has subsided and power hosing it all down, so it doesn’t come into the house.

"It is quite horrific.”

When the hospital drain last overflowed in September, Helen walked to the hospital grounds to inspect the situation. She took pictures of the flood and said she could clearly see the drain was blocked.

She told BBC Radio Oxford: “What they should be doing is getting somebody out to clear the drain. We live in fear of another downpour.”

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Jeenash Mistry, head of estates and operations at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We were very sorry to see that in the face of what was a very dramatic rainfall, the measures we have introduced at the Horton to improve on site drainage failed to protect our neighbours from rainwater runoff from our grounds.

“We have worked hard over the last few years to reduce the flow of water through the hospital woodland, introducing sandbag water breaks to reduce the flow of water and dissipate it naturally. Most of the time this works well, but in times of exceptionally heavy rainwater, the ground cannot absorb the water fast enough.

“We would like to apologise to our neighbours for the inconvenience and we are happy to meet with them to discuss further options available to us.”

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