Flash-flood victims left counting cost (From York Press)

Flash-flood victims left counting cost

9:50am Monday 11th June 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

EIGHT homes in Badger Hill, York, were flooded yesterday evening after torrential rain completed a weekend of havoc across the region.

Firefighters pumped out gardens in Yarburgh Way and Crossways to reduce floodwater levels inside residents’ properties.

Jeffery Clarke, 86, said his kitchen had been flooded by about an inch of water and carpets in his hall and living room were also sodden.

Next door neighbours Pauline and Gerald Haskins said flood waters were on the brink of coming into their home. Mrs Haskins said: “The rain has been absolutely torrential. It was absolutely horrendous. I have never seen anything like it in my life.”

The nearby David Lloyd gym and health club was evacuated at 5.15pm and was then closed for the evening after the roof sprang a leak.

Flash flooding on Saturday caused up to £100,000 worth of damage at a kitchen manufacturing business in Flaxton near York.

Richard James Handmade Kitchens’ premises were swamped to a depth of almost two feet when a nearby beck overflowed its banks.

Proprietor Richard Patterson said about £100,000 worth of machinery was affected, although it was not yet clear how much could be salvaged, and fixtures and fittings in a kitchen showroom had also been wrecked.

He said he was covered by insurance and pledged to get the business reopened as quickly as possible, saying: “You can’t let the customers down.”

He said he intended to use an additional workshop, which he had only recently acquired to use as storage space and was unaffected by flooding, to resume the manufacture of bespoke kitchen furniture within a week.

Flooding also blocked the main street running through the village, and five homes were inundated, although fire station officer David Watson said firefighters using pumps had helped prevent more properties from being affected. He said the sheer volume of rainfall had been too much for surface drains to cope with.

Resident Mark O’Brien told how he had driven back home to Flaxton through a huge hailstorm and been amazed by the ‘unbelievable’ noise from the hail.

“It was so loud in the car that we couldn’t talk to each other.”

He said the flood waters rose to within inches of the floorboards at his home in Main Street.

A rain gauge kept by residents John and Sarah Jackson indicated that more than two inches of rain