Police forces launching emergency flood response are turning to a watchdog after the 83-year-old pensioner drowned in her home

A police force has referred itself to a watchdog after a pensioner drowned in flooding caused by Storm Babet.

Maureen Gilbert, 83, was found dead on the ground floor of her flooded home on Tapton Terrace in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Saturday by her son Paul Gilbert.

Derbyshire Constabulary said it had referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct while inquiries into the circumstances of her death were ongoing.

Police said in a statement: “The referral is mandatory as officers were involved in clearing homes in the area on Friday evening.”

“This was part of a multi-agency response whereby crews supported colleagues from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service who were evacuating properties.”

A police unit has referred a watchdog after 83-year-old pensioner Maureen Gilbert drowned in flooding caused by Storm Babet. Maureen is pictured here with husband Jack Gilbert on their wedding day in 1975

Maureen was found dead on the ground floor of her flooded home on Tapton Terrace in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Saturday by her son Paul Gilbert

Maureen is believed to be the ninth person to die in weather-related incidents in recent days after her street was flooded during Storm Babet.

Her death came as new “danger to life” flood warnings were issued in neighboring Nottinghamshire as residents near a record river were told to prepare to leave their homes.

Pensioner Mrs Gilbert has spent her whole life on the streets, her heartbroken family said on Sunday, after detailing how her son and grandson found her body at home despite their attempts on the morning of October 21 to make the house waterproof.

Maureen, who neighbors said had rarely left the house in years, lived downstairs in the two-story house because she had mobility issues and was unable to go upstairs; When the water entered her home “at chest level,” she was unable to escape.

Derbyshire Police said they were called to a property in Tapton Terrace at 10.35am on Saturday.

Her daughter-in-law has told how the chest-high flood defenses in the doors were breached when the River Rother erupted outside and the water “rushed over the door at high speed”.

In a crowdfunding appeal, Kaye Gilbert said the property in Tapton Terrace, Chesterfield, had been flooded back in 2007. It was not insured because the family had been given a £10,000 excess for cleaning and restoration following flood damage.