A 90-YEAR-OLD woman has taken on the Government over flood defences in Pickering.

Topsy Clinch has seen her home in Beck Isle flooded four times in the last nine years.

Last summer, in the week of her 90th birthday, her cottage was swamped with 3ft of water in the devastating floods which hit Britain.

She has been unable to return home since.

Yesterday, Mrs Clinch, a former operating theatre nurse, joined fellow campaigners from the Pickering Flood Defence Group which travelled to London to hand over a petition to Floods Minister Phil Woolas.

The group met him to ask the Government and the Environment Agency to fund defences for their town. More than 4,000 people have signed the group's petition.

Mrs Clinch said: "It's very frightening being flooded. Last summer my home was well and truly flooded. I'd just had my birthday and we were planning some celebrations for that week, then this happened and ruined it all. It's not the first time I have had to leave my home because of flooding.

"I'm hoping to go home in the next fortnight or so, but I just don't know. Last week it was all very dodgy again. We just want some help. We want someone to come and look and see and understand what we're taking about and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Six floods have hit Pickering in the past nine years.

The latest was the worst so far and the group estimated it caused more than £3.5 million of damage.

The group says 100 homes and businesses were hit and claims the Environment Agency has never carried out a proper count and consistently under-estimates the total.

Group spokesman Howard Keal said members had been campaigning for a flood alleviation scheme since major flooding in 2000.

He said: "It's scandalous that the Environment Agency, more than five years ago, invested £750,000 in designing a flood defence system for Pickering. Since then, not a single brick has been laid."