EMBATTLED villagers pulled together as floods raged through South Hinksey.

Residents said water levels this month were higher than in the flooding of 2007 but that they had all been helping each other to get through. About 10-15 properties in the village are thought to have been flooded.

Kevin Duma, 58, said Oxford City Council had provided him with some flood defences which had kept the waters at bay. He has lived in the village for 28 years with his wife, Sally. Mr Duma said: “It has been quite frightening this year because the water got a lot higher than in 2007.

“Everyone here is used to it now, so we all just try to help each other out and do what we can to keep an eye on how everybody is doing.”

Clare Broome Saunders and her husband, John, have lived in the village for 11 years and have three young girls.

She told the Oxford Mail: “One positive thing that comes from it is that it reminds us how much we value our neighbours and the community here.

“Everybody was in the same position but you always felt like there was someone you could call, day or night.

“Even though the floods come here, we would not want to live anywhere else.

“People come into their own in these situations.”

But she said concern about the flooding was growing, adding: “It is becoming an annual event and getting worse each year. How bad does it have to get for something to be done?

“Something fundamentally different needs to happen.”