By Dickon Hooper BBC News

The water has gone, but many businesses across Gloucestershire remain closed after being flooded out in an unprecedented summer downpour.

Moreton-in-Marsh was flooded very badly in July

Shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels in the Cotswolds and Tewkesbury, now a town of static caravans and builder's skips, were deluged and destroyed.

If that were not enough, all have since had to navigate the arduous process of claiming on their insurance, an experience which has proved as traumatic for some as the floods.

Matt Gabb, 34, has run the My Great Grandfather restaurant in Tewkesbury for three years. It was flooded up to waist height and has so far cost him more than �70,000 in lost earnings and damage.

The restaurant remains shut, and the month-long wait to hear if he would get a payout he said was the "worst time" of his life.

"The insurance might have been void as we're timber-framed," he said.

"Also, the loss adjustor wanted to know if [our insurer] knew of our vicinity to a river.

"In that month I couldn't eat or sleep. I felt sick. In the end they paid out. We went through pure hell."

The issue of insurance payouts has been raised in the Commons by local Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood.

"The insurance industry had appeared to respond very quickly - but it has been slow to pay out," he said.

He is now chasing the government to expedite this.

Ken Burney, from the Federation of Small Businesses, agreed: "Most insurers and assessors got out quickly.

The hotel, near the Ambience Salon, will reopen in the New Year

"The problem is that payments are not necessarily coming as quickly as hoped or needed. Cash flow was a problem and some people were paid less than expected."

But some businesses have been more fortunate.

Moreton-in-Marsh was swamped on 20 July, turning the picturesque village into a "deserted war zone", according to one resident.

The Ambience hair salon was closed for 10 weeks of "sheer hell" at a cost of �50,000, said manager Lisa Balhatchet.

Like My Great Grandfather, the salon was just starting to turn a profit when the water began cascading down the streets.

It has reopened - thanks to Ms Balhatchet's fianc�, a carpenter and builder - but the scars, and the worries, remain.

"The thought of it happening again makes me feel sick," she said.

"Every time it rains, everyone is worried: is it going to stop?"

Now the salon is open, the business continuity cover has stopped - and Ms Balhatchet needs to get customers back through the door.

Other businesses, especially in Gloucester and Cheltenham, have the same problem, having lost water and power for weeks - and therefore earnings.

For Simon Baldwin, president of the Gloucester Chamber of Trade and Commerce, this has had a serious impact.

"A lot of businesses are playing catch-up. Losing one or two weeks makes a big difference - especially in summer."

Mr Gabb says the floods have so far cost his business �70,000

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers, said that the level of claims was unprecedented - a massive 130,000 claims in two months.

"The government has acknowledged that the industry pulled out all the stops to deal with individuals and business," he added.

"The industry is committed to paying out as quickly as possible. But the claims are complicated and it takes time to establish damage."

Travelling through Gloucestershire, it is clear the attempt to return communities and businesses to normal is a work in progress.

It is only now that the real cost of lost trade, flooded premises and possible future insurance premium hikes can be counted.