A WOMAN whose house and garden are regularly flooded is planning to sue Northumbrian Water.

Karen Smith who lives at Rushpool Cottage, near Hurworth, Darlington, said she was taking the water company to court accusing it of failing to maintain the sewers.

Monday's heavy rains saw her garden flooded to a depth of 6in.

Mrs Smith had to place sandbags at the door of her house to prevent it from flooding.

She said: "My husband was in Morocco and I was supposed to go out with him.

"I'm glad I didn't, because it would have flooded if I wasn't here.

"It has flooded before in 2000 and 2002, and so now I can't get any insurance."

Mrs Smith moved to the house in 1998.

She believes the previous owner also had trouble with flooding dating back to 1979.

Mrs Smith claims the flooding is a result of a sewer that backs up whenever it rains.

She estimates she has spent £15,000 trying to resolve the problem.

Now she says she is suing Northumbrian Water for her non-insured losses and for a failure to maintain its property.

A spokeswoman from Northumbrian Water said it only became responsible for the sewer a couple of years ago.

She said: "We do appreciate that the customer has suffered flooding and we are in the process of carrying out a total investigation into the sewer.

"This involves putting cameras down the sewer and a hydraulic survey, which looks at the capacity of the sewer."

Northumbrian Water said it was also pumping water from the garden when it could.