AN ISLE of Wight councillor said she will be "fighting very hard" to ensure the devastating floods in Arreton don't happen again.

Cllr Suzie Ellis, a Conservative, who represents the ward on the Isle of Wight Council, spent all morning with residents as they dealt with the aftermath of muddy water washing into their driveways, gardens and garages.

She told the County Press she hoped local landowners would work with the local authority on some mitigating practices to reduce the chance of the floods reoccurring.

"It's devastating, it's actually quite upsetting," she said.

"I've been here since about half past nine this morning, been in to see various residents and have a look at the dreadful affect the flooding's had on them.

"I believe a lot of this has been caused by mud and soil coming off the fields so I would very much hope the local authority would be able to work with local landowners to see what mitigating practices they could put in place to stop this happening again.

"Whether for example if ditches or hedges need looking at, whether perhaps there's a way when harvesting crops they could leave a border or some stubble which would perhaps slow it down.

"There are things that can be put in place and I will be fighting very hard and working very hard to get that put in place so everyone's happy so this doesn't happen again.

"It is an act of nature, an act of God that causes torrential flooding, we have had a drought, and torrential rain was coming, you can't stop that. You can't stop climate change.

"We need to look at what we are doing with planning and building houses and infrastructure because surface water plays a big part when we have these floods so we need to look at what we are doing with surface water.

"But we do also need to speak with landowners and ask them to please help and work with us because a lot of the mud has definitely come off these fields unfortunately."