FAMILIES across the region are still facing a life of misery - five months after the worst flooding in decades forced hundreds of people out of their homes.

Dozens of residents of flood-hit communities remain uncertain about when they can return to their homes and several have vowed to never return.

And just weeks after a hard-hitting report condemned the North's flood defences as the worst in the country, homeowners said they were still fearful that severe weather on the same scale as last November could wreak more havoc.

Di Keal, whose home in Norton, North Yorkshire, had been completely redecorated after the disastrous floods of March 1999, saw months of repair work ruined last November.

Mrs Keal, together with husband Howard and their three children, has been told it will be at least another six weeks before her family can return home.

But she said the fear of more freak weather disrupting their lives once again was still at the forefront of their minds, with flood defence work in the area yet to start.

More than 100 homes were flooded in Malton, Norton and Old Malton last year. Mrs Keal said: "There are probably more people still out of their homes than there are in."

Last year's flooding exceeded the record-breaking levels which hit Malton and Norton two years ago - and residents fear worse could be to come.

Mrs Keal said: "There is a lot of anxiety about next year because they still haven't started on the flood defences here yet. The Environment Agency has to jump through so many hoops before it can actually get people on the ground and working."

Another victim of November's floods, Kay Konieczny, of Thirsk, was among the last people in the town to finally return home a week ago.

Repair work to the home she shares with husband Tony, 77, has suffered several delays and builders only moved in earlier this year.

She said: "We are back in our home but it is still like a building site. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

The couple have lived in the town for 47 years and are adamant that they will stay but Mrs Konieczny added: "Some of the poor souls across the street from us do not even want to come back."

More than 1,600 properties in the North-East and North Yorkshire were flooded last October and November, with further scenes of devastation at South Church, County Durham, and Skinningrove, East Cleveland.

Earlier this year, Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman's report to the Government said years of under-funding and neglect of maintenance had left too many homes at risk.

Residents in South Church and West Auckland spent up to six months in caravans when the River Gaunless devastated their homes in June last year.

More than 300 properties in the two communities were flooded and it was December before many people in South Church could move back.