Standing in the kitchen of the home he once shared with his

son, Michael Barnett casts a glance at the young man's bike

with mud still on its wheels.

Mr Barnett can't bare to wipe the dirt away from the cycle,

clinging to every last memory of his son, who was also called

Michael.

Michael's bedroom also remains untouched – just as he left

it one year ago today.

Mr Barnett even calls out to Michael when he leaves the

house, but the knowledge he will never hear a reply is too much

to bear.

And as he gazes out of his living room window, he catches

sight of a young man on a bike wearing a woolly hat.

“I was ready to get up and open the front door because I

thought it was him,” he said.

“I still knock on his bedroom door and ask if he is all

right. Whenever I go out, I shout up to him.

“You can't imagine yourself in a situation like this.”

Michael Barnett, 28, died of hypothermia after getting his

leg trapped in a temporary grille in a storm drain in Astral

Close, Hessle, on June 25 last year.

Emergency workers were unable to free him and a verdict of

accidental death was returned by an inquest jury.

One year on, the painful memories of that day are still

difficult for 66-year-old Mr Barnett, of Willerby Road, west

Hull, to comprehend.

He said: “If I sit down, I think. It seems like a story

book.

“When I first used to go to bed, I used to re-enact in my

mind what happened on that day – the phone ringing, his boss on

the end of the phone, me saying he shouldn't be there, going

there.

“You don't realise this has happened to you. It is quiet at

home. I miss his company.

“I have bad days and good days. But if I'm doing something

positive like highlighting the problem with the drains, I'm

thinking positively. If I'm sat here looking at his photograph,

which I do quite a lot, that is negative.”

Mr Barnett regularly visits the drain where his son

tragically lost his life and was today due to lay flowers at

the scene.

“I usually go on a night while it's raining and it's quiet,

just to see how the water is doing,” he said.

Mr Barnett said he will continue to speak out about flooding

and drain maintenance and has said he does not blame anyone for

his son's death.

“I don't want him to have died in vain,” he said. “It's all

right doing people's houses up, but the problem is not being

sorted out.

“Some people say I shouldn't have talked to the media, but I

just thought I could get something done with the water.

“But nothing has been done. It's all promises.

“People will probably get fed up of seeing me in the paper,

but I don't care.

“It is on my mind all the time.”

One year on, metal railings still remain in place around the

drain and plastic barriers and cones line the area in front of

a sign that reads: “Danger Deep Water.”

Mr Barnett said: “Nothing has changed in Astral Close.

“I was in my 20s when I used to go round there and it was

like that then. That's more than 40 years ago.

“I think if I hadn't lost our Mike, I wouldn't have

campaigned as much. I would have definitely had my say about

the water, but with his death I have done more.”

But Environment Agency area flood risk manager Peter Holmes

said work had been done on the drain.

He said: “Since the flood last summer, the Environment

Agency has re-profiled the Western Drain channel to give it

more capacity, repaired channel side slips, cleared vegetation

and debris, and removed silt from culverts.

“We are working closely with East Riding Council on the best

possible long-term solution to reducing flood risk at Western

Drain and held a public drop-in session a couple of weeks ago

to discuss proposals.

“Given the technical aspects of the waterway, we believe

creating a floodwater storage area provides the most practical

and cost-effective option to protect properties along Western

Drain.”