“IT was a scene of devastation.”

Those were the words of resident Marion Pope after she was allowed to move back into her park home today.

The 64-year-old’s property at Iford Bridge Home Park was among one of those where the water mark about a foot up the wall betrayed how high the River Stour had made it inside.

“We’ve been told that if it’s damp it’s got to go,” she said.

“We’ve lost the new flooring we had down and it’s a good job we didn’t have a new kitchen.”

Mrs Pope was upset at not being given another night in a hotel to give her more time to prepare before sleeping back at home.

And neighbour Peter Mellor’s home is so wet he is unable to move back so he was trying to find anything that was salvageable before returning to stay with family.

“Everything in here is ruined,” the 92-year-old widower said in his lounge.

“I’ve got no light so I can only work in here until 4pm.

“You can see it was pretty swamped out.”

Neighbour David Buckle is one of the designated flood wardens.

The 75-year-old had to throw away items he was storing underneath his home but was relieved the water did not make it inside.

He said: “It’s been very bad because 20 homes have been affected by water and I understand five of them are write offs.”

Mr Buckle called on the Environment Agency to take more action to prevent the flood from happening again.

Neighbour Ann Sedgwick said she had been “one of the lucky ones”.

“For some people it’s heartbreaking, it really is,” she said.

Ken Ayres, who manages the site, said some residents are struggling to agree payouts from insurers.

“Some people have lost everything,” he said