A flood-prone area of Sandwell is to benefit from a £50,000 scheme after water gushed through homes twice in one year.

Experts were in Tipton today to examine a brook which local people fear could flood their homes again.

Residents of Cotterills Road were left waist-high in water when Tipton Brook burst its banks in July.

It was the second time in just over a year that it had flooded in heavy rain.

Bosses revealed today that a new £50,000 grille is to be installed where the stream flows underground. Experts from the Environment Agency visited the site as experts predicted further downfalls tomorrow.

One flood victim, Teresa Webb, a 57-year-old cashier from Cotterills Road, said: “It came right into my house, it was more than a metre high in the garden and it wrecked our two garden sheds.

“It’s not just the money that it’s going to cost us, its all the stress that we’ve had to go through. Every time it rains you just dread to think what’s going to happen.”

The Environment Agency is responsible for the stream and will install the grille. 

Andy Johnson, an engineer with the organisation, said they would be replacing the grill which had been blocked with rubbish and was “a significant factor” in the flooding of the homes.

It will be replaced in the next eight weeks.

Councillor Derek Rowley, member for Great Bridge, is also investigating work carried out on a path next to the stream and backing on to gardens in Cotterills Road. 

He says work last year to replace a storm drain saw the path raised three feet which residents believe causes the water to cascade into their homes. Councillor Rowley said: “In 60 years I haven’t known it flood until they raised this path.”

Parts of the Midlands saw heavy rain yesterday and forecasters have warned there is more to come.