Her kitchen ceiling has collapsed and ankle deep flooding has filled much of her home - but a date is still yet to be fixed to solve Felicia Ekwebelem’s sorry situation.

The 53-year-old carer, who lives in Maryland Street, first reported a then quite minor leak to Newham Council back at the beginning of November.

But the situation is seemingly no closer to being resolved three months later, despite the dripping escalating to the extent that part of her kitchen ceiling has now collapsed.

“It’s like a swimming pool but nobody has taken any interest whatsoever,” Felicia, who is having to self-fund accomodation in a bed and breakfast in Stratford due to the flooding, said.

“I don’t have any house contents insurance so I’ve been trying not to let it get any worse but it’s hard because I’m having to mop at least twice a day.”

In desperation, Felicia tried to take control of the situation herself by contacting council contracter Aspen directly after the council help dried up in mid-November.

But the contractors were unable to visit until December 18 and when they did turn up, she was told that it wasn’t safe for her to live there.

Despite the unliveable circumstances, no action could be taken until the council had given approval.

This delay has meant that the cold stagnant water has lead to damp appearing throughout most of her maisonette.

“I don’t know where I need to go to get the help that I need now - I’ve tried everything,” Felicia said.

“The water has been increasing every day and just getting worse.”

She has had to have time off work due to her difficulties which have caused her countless sleepless nights.

A council spokesman apologised for the delay in fixing the problem.

“We have been able to get into the upstairs property where the leak was coming from and carried out a repair,” he said.

“We are working with the leaseholder on making good the water-damaged flat and will meet the costs of bringing it back to the condition it was in before the leak.

“We have apologised for it taking longer to deal with than the leaseholder had the right to expect.

“We will look at our processes to see how we can avoid such situations happening in future.”