Flood victims in East Yorkshire have criticised the lack of help they have received from the authorities as their homes and businesses were left submerged by water.
More residents in Snaith were advised to evacuate on Wednesday afternoon as water from the River Aire and surrounding washlands continued to rise.
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said that some 100 homes had been affected by flooding, while warnings were out for a further 60 properties in nearby East Cowick.
Fire crews on the ground in Snaith assisting with the multi agency efforts. 100 houses affected by flooding in Snaith. Flood warnings out to a further 60 properties in East Cowick. Another high tide at 2200 hrs aprrox tonight. pic.twitter.com/jVVlR4L9AT
— Humberside Fire & Rescue (@HumbersideFire) February 26, 2020
Shaunna Caddle said she had no warning and did not have time to save her home, animals and business from the flood.
She said: “We rang the council and the Environment Agency and they said nothing, it was unlikely to happen, so we didn’t have time to move our furniture, our business is there, we’ve lost animals because we weren’t able to get them out, we’ve lost everything.”
Ms Caddle said she had less than an hour to prepare after she saw the floodwater approaching her home on Gowdall Lane.
She said: “It’s completely destroyed now. It’s completely under water, the water’s taller than me.
“We can’t save anything, computers, tablets, forklift trucks, everything, just destroyed and, you know, that’s our lives, now we’re homeless.”
Lisa Deakin said her father, 76-year-old Stuart Mellard, had received no help from the authorities and was not insured after his home, on Gowdall Lane, flooded in 2000.
Describing the flood on Tuesday, she said: “It just came in and kept coming and kept coming and it’s waist-high, maybe a bit deeper than that now inside there.
“He didn’t want to come out, he was sat in his slippers, watching his telly, remote in his hand, cup of tea, fire on. He didn’t realise it was going to come in.”
Tim Marshall, a landlord who owns a flooded commercial property in Snaith, also criticised the lack of warning and help he received.
He said: “We got a warning in the morning from the Environment Agency that flooding was imminent and the ladies who run the two salons on the property, they spent the day getting as much equipment out as they could and, at approximately 12pm, they more or less said it is going to flood and, within half an hour it had happened, so that’s as much warning as we got.”
He added: “I rang the local council, as I was asked to do, yesterday morning and asked for some sandbags and things and got no response whatsoever.”
East Riding of Yorkshire Council said around 20 tonnes of sandbags had been distributed to properties most at risk of flooding.
A spokesman said council staff will continue to provide advice and assistance to residents and will be stationed at Snaith Priory Church, which is being used as a rest centre.
Three schools in the area will remain closed on Thursday, bus and rail services have been affected and motorists are being advised to avoid the area, where road closures are in place.
Mathew Buckley, head of legal and democratic services at the council, said: “Conditions in Snaith and Gowdall are challenging and the unpredictability of the flooding means that the incident is rapidly changing.
“We will continue to monitor conditions this evening and overnight.”
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