Exactly a year ago this week, at around four in the morning, Janet Hollis woke up to the sound of water coming under her front door.

By six, it was halfway up the stairs. By nine, she and her husband were being helped into a rescue boat from their bedroom window, along with their two cats and a bag of medication. They didn't return to live in the house for ten months.

"People think the flood is the worst part," she says, standing in her newly refitted kitchen on Mill Lane. "It isn't. The flood is one night. It's everything that comes after that breaks you."

The night the river rose

Last October, after several days of exceptionally heavy rain, the river running through the Old Quay neighbourhood rose faster than at any time in recorded local history. Floodwater swept into 46 homes on Mill Lane and dozens more in the surrounding streets. Nobody was killed, but several residents were treated for hypothermia, and many lost almost everything they owned on their ground floors.

The street had flooded before, but never like this. Older residents remember water reaching the doorsteps in the 1990s. This time it reached the ceilings of some ground-floor rooms.

A year of drying out

What followed, residents say, was a long, exhausting process of drying, stripping, arguing and waiting.

Flooded homes cannot simply be cleaned and lived in again. Plaster, flooring and electrics often need to be removed entirely. Walls must dry out for weeks or months before they can be repaired. Many families spent much of the past year in temporary accommodation — rented flats, hotel rooms, relatives' spare bedrooms — while their homes sat empty behind industrial dehumidifiers.

Of the 46 households on Mill Lane, 31 are now back in their homes. Nine are still waiting for repairs to be completed. Six have decided not to return, either selling up or, in the case of several tenants, moving elsewhere after their landlords chose not to rebuild.

"The flood is one night. It's everything that comes after that breaks you." — Janet Hollis, Mill Lane

Fighting the insurers

The most common complaint we heard from residents was about insurance. Several described months of delays, disputes over what should be covered and repeated visits from different assessors.

Mark and Leah Dunn, who live at the far end of the street with their two young children, say it took five months for their insurer to agree the scope of repairs. "Every time we thought it was sorted, someone new would come round and start again," says Leah. "We spent more time on the phone to the insurance company than we spent with our kids."

Others were more fortunate. Janet Hollis says her insurer was "slow but fair" and that the support of a dedicated claims handler made a significant difference.

Several residents told us that the most practical help they received came not from official channels but from each other: a WhatsApp group set up the morning after the flood, which became a lifeline for sharing tradespeople, advice on claims and offers of spare rooms.

Tenants and landlords

The situation has been especially difficult for renters. Around a third of the homes on Mill Lane are privately rented. Some tenants were rehoused quickly by their landlords. Others say they were left without clear information about when — or whether — they could return.

One tenant, who asked not to be named, said she was told her tenancy would be ended after the flood and that the property would be "renovated and re-let." She has since moved to a flat on the other side of the city, away from her children's school. "I lived on that street for nine years," she says. "I didn't get a choice."

The defences

The biggest question on Mill Lane is what is being done to stop it happening again.

After the flood, the environmental agency responsible for river flood risk and the city council announced plans for a new flood defence scheme for Old Quay, including raised embankments, a flood wall along part of the river and improved drainage. Residents were told work would begin within a year.

It has not yet started. The agency says detailed design work is under way and that construction is expected to begin next year, subject to funding and planning approval. It has installed temporary flood barriers that can be deployed when heavy rain is forecast, and residents have been offered free flood alarms and help with fitting flood doors and other property-level protection.

"Temporary barriers are better than nothing," says the chair of the Old Quay Residents' Association. "But every time it rains hard, people on this street don't sleep. We need the permanent defences, and we need them now."

A changing climate

Climate scientists have long warned that warmer air holds more moisture, increasing the likelihood of intense rainfall events. Many towns and cities are now reassessing how well their existing defences, often designed decades ago, will cope in the future.

For the residents of Mill Lane, that wider picture is very personal. "We're not experts," says Janet Hollis. "But we know what we saw. And we know it's coming again."

One year on

On Saturday, the residents of Mill Lane will hold a small gathering in the street to mark the anniversary — not a celebration, they are careful to say, but a moment to thank the neighbours, volunteers and emergency services who helped them through the year.

Janet Hollis will be there. She has finally finished decorating her living room, the last room to be repaired. On the wall, at just above head height, she has fixed a small brass plaque showing exactly how high the water rose.

"So I never forget," she says. "And so whoever lives here after me knows."

If you were affected by last year's floods and would like to share your experience, contact news@wire.example.com.