A FORMER Paratrooper vented his frustration yesterday after his 12ft pet snake drowned in the floods triggered by the remains of Hurricane Bertha.

Fabian Boulton, 38, found his pet called Handbags had died in his basement flat in Mill Parade, Newport, yesterday morning.

His other pet snake, named Stiletto, survived after climbing to safety when his sitting room was submerged by one and a half foot of water.

Mr Boulton vowed to stay in his home near the iconic Transporter Bridge despite being repeatedly flooded since moving in about a year ago.

He said: “I have been flooded six times, three times last Christmas.

“This killed one of my snakes. I don’t really want to move. This is my home.

“I like the place. I’ve put my mark on it. It is very annoying.”

Meanwhile, the International Food Market store in Commercial Road, Newport, was also flooded though no stock was destroyed.

The water rose to around knee level in the basement but shop worker Omar Choman, 32, said the stock was kept on wooden pallets.

Firefighters closed off part of Commercial Road while they pumped the water from the basement.

A few other homes in Mill Parade, near the River Usk, were hit by sporadic flooding, which was contained to basement areas.

Mill Parade residents said they had been flooded several times in the last few years.

Hypnotherapist Dale Melton, 46, of Mill Parade, said his home was by and large spared and thanked South Wales Fire and Rescue Service for their support.

Fire service green watch manager Richard Webb said his colleagues had tackled today’s flooding in Mill Parade from 7am.

Mr Webb said homes in Mill Parade had not been evacuated though the water level had risen to between two and three feet.

He added that drains did not seem to be able to cope with sudden downpours on the scale experienced today.

A South Wales Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said no other reports of flooding had been received.

Natural Resources Wales issued two “flood alerts” for the Usk Estuary and the Wye Estuary in Monmouthshire on Sunday morning.

High tide at Newport reached 6.4m on Sunday morning and was expected to reach 7.4m at 7.45pm on Sunday, according to the Environment Agency.