Thirteen flood-hit properties in one of the areas worst affected by Storm Desmond are being auctioned off.

And one couple selling up fear they will never again feel safe in their home.

The number of properties being sold at auction for knock-down prices is continuing to rise, as the long-term impact of December’s floods starts to hit.

Denise Day and partner Matthew Bell are among an increasing number of Carlisle’s flood victims who are prepared to sell for just 50 per cent of what they bought it for three years ago.

Auction House Cumbria is to sell 13 formerly flooded properties in its next sale at Carlisle Racecourse on June 2, including several homes from the city’s flood-hit Warwick Road and nearby streets.

Only two of the flooded houses were uninsured.

Auctioneer Colin West said that most of the vendors will have opted to sell after agreeing a settlement with their insurers – in some cases because they need to be sure they will never again face another flood disaster.

The sellers include Warwick Road homeowner Denise, 50, whose three bedroom mid-terraced home – originally bought for £140,000 three years ago – is being sold with a guide price of £75,000.

“We just want to move on,” said Denise, who was living in the house with Matthew, 31, during the flood last December.

She admitted: “I’m worried we’d be out next Christmas, enjoying a drink, and there’ll be flood warnings and we’ll have to rush home to drag furniture upstairs.

“It’s a lovely house, with lovely big rooms. It had just been done up to a high standard. But to me, it’s not the home it was, and I feel it never will be. It’s gone – I’ll never feel comfortable there again.

“They spent £38m on the flood defences. Even if they spend another £25m they can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.”

Recalling December 5, Denise said: “We’d had the flood warning, and we kept walking down to the bridge and saw the water get higher and higher. We saw on TV that the flood defences in Keswick and Cockermouth had failed and realised our flood defences would fail too.”

At midnight Matthew ran into the room and announced: “You’ve got to move the car now – the water’s coming.”

In the yard outside, water was gushing from a drain while in the back lane it was up to the wheel arches of Denise’s car.

She only just managed to drive it away before it was inundated.

The next morning, the brown floodwater was four-and-a-half feet deep in their home. Luckily, the couple could move into a house left vacant by Denise’s son, who had just landed a job in Canada.

“But it’s been a lot of hassle,” she said. “I’ve had to meet insurance people, workmen, and every weekend is taken up by it. We’ll lose out financially but it will be worth it for peace of mind.”

Matthew, a wagon driver, added: “We bought the house after they built the flood defences, thinking it would be all right. We’d never have bought if it hadn’t been for that.”

Mr West said that, like Denise and Matthew, some home owners plan to take their insurance settlement and combine it with whatever auction price they get.

Other properties being sold were rented out, and this had already been identified as a looming issue since the Government’s new Flood Re insurance scheme will not be offered to landlords.

For investors – particularly those with DIY skills – the good news is that the flooded properties are typically marketed at 45 and 55 per cent below pre-flood value.

Yet in the last Auction House Cumbria sale there was stiff competition for properties, with a house in River Street, with a guide price of £65,000, selling for £100,000. Its pre-flood value was £130,000. Mr West added: “Auctioning a property brings things to a head.”