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“The worst part of it was the smell,” says Audrey Crook, 58. A full-time carer who lives with her 20-year-old son, Crook woke up at 11pm one night to find a foot of flood water on the ground floor of her home. “It was like black water. It had sewage and everything in it, it was absolutely disgusting.”

Crook’s home – along with more than 30 others on Wyberton West Road and Park Road in Boston, Lincolnshire – was flooded in January last year when heavy rain swept across the region, raising river levels and exceeding flood defences.

“My house now doesn’t look anything like it did before,” says Crook, who has yet to receive money from her insurance for the contents of her house. “I had some antique rugs, Indian silks. They all went. I lost them all.”

Boston, nestled at the northern end of the Fens, is on the frontline of the UK’s flooding crisis, which experts say could lead to some towns being abandoned as climate breakdown makes many areas uninsurable.

According to the Environment Agency, 91% of buildings in the Boston and Skegness constituency are at some level of flood risk – more than in any other English constituency. And the science is clear that winters are getting wetter in the UK due to climate breakdown, with warmer air holding more water vapour, meaning heavier downpours.

However, the local MP Richard Tice is one of Reform UK’s most ardent opponents of climate action, regularly describing the UK’s efforts to reach net zero as “net stupid”. Just a month after the flooding hit homes in his constituency, Tice told Sky News that the idea of human-made climate change was “garbage”.

That did not go down well with some of his constituents. “I’m sorry, if they think climate change has got nothing to do with it, I think they’re seriously wrong,” Crook says.

The day after the flood, Tice said in a statement that he was “fully aware of the flooding damage” and his team were “working tirelessly to assist constituents, and we will continue to provide support throughout this ongoing crisis”.

However, more than 12 months later, some residents say the local MP has yet to be in touch. “We’re still waiting for Richard Tice to turn up,” Crook says. “Didn’t show his face. A lot of people were angry about that … It’s his job. And if he can’t turn up, he can send a deputy, can’t he?”

The anger of Boston residents highlights a growing problem for Reform and the climate-sceptic stance of its Westminster leadership. A recent survey by Hope Not Hate found that, unlike some of the party’s MPs, more than half of Reform’s would-be voters agree that climate change is caused by human activities.

Alasdair Johnstone, of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), says there is a growing tension between the climate-sceptic instincts of Reform and the day-to-day reality of many of its voters and supporters.

Polling carried out for ECIU found that more than half of those who planned to vote Reform at last year’s local elections backed efforts to tackle climate change. Johnstone says: “We are seeing that, as people see first-hand the impacts of climate change on their lives, it does not sit well when they are told this is not happening – there is an obvious tension there.”

In Boston, more than a year after their homes were flooded when the South Forty Foot Drain embankment was breached, many residents are still trying to rebuild their lives, waiting to hear back about insurance claims or dealing with repairs.

“It’s frustrating to have all of these public statements being made about ‘net stupid zero’ and things like that while not attending to residents’ needs when it comes to flooding,” says Andy Robinson, a local resident.

Crook says she and her son have experienced sleepless nights since the flood. “It’s the panic,” she says. “Every time the drain is high at the back, we’re all panicking because we just think: ‘Oh god, what if it happens again?’”

One resident says some homes have become “unmortgageable” due to the flood risk. “We can’t sell, we can’t move,” says the woman, who does not want to be named. “My insurance for the year – contents and buildings – is over £900 now.”

Those fears are backed up in a study published on Wednesday that found more than 400,000 homeowners across England could become “mortgage prisoners” trapped in high-interest mortgages for flood-prone properties they cannot easily sell.

The report, from Public First and the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, found that Tice’s constituency was the “climate mortgage prisoner capital of England” with 8,600 homes at high risk by 2050 – the highest number in the country.

In a response to the Guardian, Tice dismissed the criticism as “politically motivated claptrap”. He said that even if the “UK and the rest of the world reached net zero tomorrow”, sea level rises and flooding would remain an issue for centuries.

“My priority has therefore been to secure practical, immediate protections for residents,” he said. “That means focusing on adaptation: properly maintained rivers, effective drainage systems, dredging where appropriate, and significant investment in sea defences. These measures will do far more to protect livelihoods locally than distant net zero targets, which do not materially reduce the near-term risk of flooding in Boston and Skegness.”

He said he had raised flooding concerns in parliament and met the Environment Agency as well as affected residents and local groups.

“Constituents who contacted my office during the flooding were offered support and practical advice and were encouraged to share their experiences and evidence so we could strengthen the case for urgent action from government and the Environment Agency … I want decisive action now to deliver real protection for the future,” Tice said.

Reform took over Lincolnshire county council from the Conservative party in May 2025, and this month it scrapped its net zero goal to become carbon neutral by 2050 – one of seven Reform-led councils to do so since being elected, according to research by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

In a statement, the council leader, Sean Matthews, told the Guardian that the net zero targets would have cost too much. “We all want to live in a cleaner environment and do the right thing when it comes to being environmentally friendly. But should that come at great expense to us all?” he said.

“I’m not prepared to use taxpayers’ money in a way that won’t benefit them … I do not believe that the carbon emissions in the UK are significant enough to justify such a pace of change. The impacts on households and businesses – both financially and on local communities – are just too damaging.”

Chris Miller, the head of environment at the council, said all households affected by the flooding in January last year were invited to apply for the “property flood resilience” grant scheme. “Following that contact, [the council] received seven completed application forms and signed letters of agreement,” he said.

Tice’s constituency was promised at least £55m from the government’s £1.4bn flood defence fund for England since 2024, the second-largest sum for a single constituency, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. But despite the extra cash and assurances, some residents on Wyberton West Road remain sceptical.

Malcolm Fairweather, a 71-year-old resident, said “there’s been no follow-up” on his concerns after the council switched to Reform.

Cain Arathoon, Audrey Crook’s son and a student at Boston College, said: “No matter how many times you’re going to try and say that climate change isn’t real, you can look to a street that’s been flooded and there’s your answer. We’re going to have to sort it out before it becomes irreversible.”