HUNDREDS of Oxfordshire residents are facing Christmas away from home this year as they wait for repair work to be finished following July's catastrophic floods.

The drying-out process is continuing for many families, and some insurance claims have still not been completed.

More than 1,600 homes were flooded in west Oxfordshire, while in Abingdon and other parts of the Vale of White Horse, another 1,000 homes were affected. And 190 homes in West Oxford were deluged.

Samantha Bowring, 37, from Turberville Close, in Abingdon, was told that her family would not be celebrating Christmas at home.

She is currently living in rented accommodation in the town with her husband Neil Fawcett, 39, and their son James, nine, and daughter Emma, five.

Ms Bowring, a district councillor for Abingdon's Ock Meadow ward, said: "It was starting to dawn on us that we wouldn't be home for Christmas, but when the builders told us, we were so disappointed.

"There's just so much work to be done and there's a real waiting list to get the tradesmen in to do it.

"It will be sad not to be at home for Christmas, but we can't let it get us down too much. It's the not knowing how long it will be that's getting us down."

John Kelly, the county council's emergency planning officer, said it was not possible to say precisely how many people forced to move out by flood damage would not be back home by Christmas.

"It can take months before homes are dried out and insurance payments come through," he said.

Some residents have been forced to stay in bed-and-breakfast or hotel accommodation but the majority have managed to find alternative homes to rent, with insurance companies footing the bill.

Susanna Pressel, a Labour city councillor for Oxford's Jericho and Osney ward, where 190 homes were flooded, estimated that as many as 50 per cent of the residents were still not back in their homes.

They include Nick Gladwin, of Earl Street, who lost furniture and other possessions in the July flood.

"I definitely will not be back in there before Christmas and I don't know if I will ever be able to go back there," said Mr Gladwin.

"They have only just finished drying the place out and I'm still living at friends' houses in Marston and Littlemore.

"Some of the personal bits and pieces I collected over the years - stuff from school - I just don't have any more.

"I'm struggling to get my emails through without a permanent place to live - it's the little things like that which are incredibly frustrating."

Richard Thurston, a spokesman for the Osney Island Residents' Association, added: "Lots of residents have still got the dehumidifiers going in their homes - people forget how long it takes to get over the floods."

Margaret Shore, 65, and husband Michael, 56, of Shipton Road, Ascott-under-Wychwood, were away in Holland when their home was flooded in July.

They are living in rented accommodation in Scholar Place, Cumnor, and do not expect building repairs to start in their home until January.

Mrs Shore said: "It's sad not to be in your own home at Christmas but you have to make the best of it. We expect the building work to cost at least £100,000, but we consider ourselves lucky, because at least we were covered by the insurance.

"It's an old house and it was completed devastated - the thing that upset me the most was losing old photographs."

Thirty-three elderly residents at Mill House nursing home, in Bridge Street, Witney, have also been told they will not be able to return until March or April, due to repair work.