People who have been waiting to return to their homes following flooding nine months ago have been hit again.

The overnight downpour has thwarted plans, as some had been expecting to return to their properties in Bridgend within a few months.

An elderly woman was helped to safety after waist-deep water filled the ground-floor properties, said South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Liam Reilly, 30, said it could be many more months before he and partner Ceri Thomas, 29, can move back after a nearby culvert flooded again with water entering their flat for a second time since last September.

“It does feel like our whole lives are now put on hold for the foreseeable,” he said.

“We are stuck with a house that we can’t live in, that we have to pay for.

“And now we are going to be living with family for the foreseeable future.”

He said 10 ground-floor flats needed an overhaul after last year’s floods, with three having new kitchens recently fitted after being flooded at Ty Caer Castell last year.

Ty Caer Castell ground floor flats also flooded in 2012. A spokesperson for the fire service at the time said the flooding had been caused by water from a blocked culvert.

Mr Reilly returned to the property in the early hours to try to survey the damage and saw firefighters helping an older person to safety.

“We weren’t able to access the property – the water was too high for us to safely walk through,” he said.

Although insured, Mr Reilly and Ms Thomas lost everything in the first flood so the property was empty when it was hit by last night’s deluge.

“You’ve just got to keep going. I’ve got a business to run,” he said, referring to his mobile coffee van which was hit during the first flood along with neighbours’ vehicles.