By Lucy Wilkins BBC News in Carlisle

We were supposed to get married this year, but we'll have to cancel that Maree Dixon Carlisle resident Communities helped as flood stress continues

For the past 15 months, Maree Dixon, 34, has been happy to rent a two-bedroom house for her fianc� and son in Caldewgate, Carlisle.

But now she just wants to leave the damp, smelly, cold and contaminated terrace house after flood water flowed through it on 7 January.

Like many streets throughout the city, Morton Street is full of skips filled with the wet and ruined innards of its 20 or so houses.

While the whir of drying machines can be heard behind the locked doors of the deserted neighbouring houses, Ms Dixon continues to live in her house with William, 45, and Steven, 15.

She sits on a settee donated by friends, her feet on a rug that when lifted off the stripped concrete floor reveals a dampness that will shortly produce a white mould lightly covering the pink mat.

A tidemark about 4ft high runs through the living room, kitchen and bathroom downstairs, showing where the water reached on 8 January.

The flood mark can be clearly seen throughout the house

When the water started trickling in, the family's desperate attempts to block up the back door were pointless - water was also coming in the front door and raw sewage was bubbling up from the toilet.

She warns against touching the still damp walls. Although her fianc� has washed out the house with a jet spray, she still fears residing bacteria from the dirty flood.

As the water rose, they tried to get as many belongings upstairs as possible, but lost their furniture, washing machine, cooker, fridge and all their food, as well as their car.

"The quicker we tried to move things, the quicker the water came in. We've lost things with sentimental value, such as photo albums, certificates, documents - things that you can't replace."

A grant of �750 from the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund has been used to purchase new items but it did not go far. With no insurance, the family are reliant on friends and authorities but feel frustrated by what they regard as a lack of official help.

Carlisle flood aftermath In pictures

"We were supposed to get married this year but we'll have to cancel that the way things are going. All the money we had will have to go into this."

Ms Dixon has stopped paying rent because of a dispute with her landlord over when the house will become habitable again.

She lost her housekeeping job about a fortnight after the flood.

Morton St is deserted except for skips and builders

She had initially been unable to contact her employers as telecommunications were cut and she was then too stressed coping with a damaged house to get to work.

Her partner's employer gave him a week off with pay to deal with the flood aftermath.

Ms Dixon is hoping her family will be rehoused, but one month on she has yet to move from Morton Street.

"This will always stay with us. My son's very quiet, he's off school today and yesterday because he's just not sleeping.

"None of us are sleeping well," she says, close to tears.

"But hopefully we will get another house, I'll get a job again and hopefully it will be a fresh start, but this has been a pure nightmare."