THE village of Brawby near Kirkbymoorside has been cut off by floodwaters since Monday.


Villager Simon Thackray, who runs The Shed music and poetry venue, said the problem was not the river bursting its banks, but drains backing up filling the streets with contaminated water.


He said although the water hadn’t got into peoples’ homes villagers were angry because nothing had been done to get rid of the stagnant water.


Mr Thackray said: “We have an antiquated combined sewer here which means that surface rain water mixes in with everything from household drains and whenever we get heavy rain it can’t cope and over runs leaving village streets flooded with contaminated water for children and adulst to have to get through.”


Brawby, which has about 165 residents, sits between the point where the River Seven converges with the River Rye.