A family has been left having sleepless nights in fear that every time it rains their home will be flooded.

Whitecross near Abingdon suffered bad flooding earlier this year when Storm Henk battered the county and the area has been hit as more rain continues to cause problems.

Stuart Bates and his family have lived in the small hamlet for 20 years and say apart from flash flooding in July 2007 they have never had issues.

READ MORE: Call for help as severe flooding hits hamlet 'for first time'

Across Oxfordshire, there remain six flood warnings in place and 42 flood alerts have been issued with more rain forecast this afternoon.

Mr Bates said: “This is a hugely stressful time for my family.

“Every time it rains we are worried that we will be flooded again.

“We have had to box everything up and ensure that the minimal amount of belongings are on the ground floor.

“We are not sleeping properly as we are worried that we may flood overnight.

"We are also worried every time we leave the house unattended.

“We believe that lack of repairs and maintenance of the watercourses is responsible for the current situation”.

Oxford Mail: Flooding at home in Whitecross

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Wootton Parish Council chairwoman has called for more support for the area after suffering from floods in the past week and from Storm Henk.

Dr Quaghebeur said: “Whitecross severely flooded when we had the torrential rain in January.

“That was really bad with houses being made uninhabitable. There was a lot of damage.

“We raised this with the Oxfordshire County Council at our parish meeting and residents came to express their dismay.

“We don’t have any support at all and when the rain came down over the weekend, the flooding happened again.

“Several houses were flooded inside and nothing has happened between the two episodes.”

She claimed the main source of the flooding is from blocked drains and unkept gullies from Fox Lane near Boars Hill.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said the “majority” of the Fox Lane gullies were inspected and cleansed in October 2022 with the others done in November 2019.

The parish council chairwoman added the area should be provided with sandbags and flood signs.

She said: “If it happens again people don’t have sandbags, so they have to buy their own.

“We don’t have flood signs. If we had signs at least we could hopefully stop the cars from driving through it.

“We need the drains to be cleared and people to come in to help pump out water and allow the water to go down the road and to help residents out of their houses and find places for shelter.”

The council said it would deploy sandbags to properties at “immediate risk” but added householders have a responsibility to provide their own sandbags.

Highways teams will provide ‘road closed’ signs when roads become impassable, a council spokesperson said.

The authority is taking a "risk-based approach" to drain clearance, targeting the most at-risk sites.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: “We are carrying out a flood investigation report for the area of Whitecross following the flooding that occurred during storm Henk in January.

“Oxfordshire County Council’s Lead Local Flood Authority Team is working with the Vale of White Horse District Council to produce the report.

“The purpose is to establish which Risk Management Authorities have relevant flood risk management functions in the area, what the cause of the flood event was, and produce recommendations to alleviate future flooding events.”