The water baby

Meet Ryedale's water baby - born after her parents faced a desperate battle through terrible floods to get to the hospital in time.

BABY LOVE: Jane Hartley cradles her new-born baby, who arrived in the flooding chaos that hit Ryedale this week Picture: Frank Dwyer

Mum Jane Hartley feared she would have an unplanned water birth in the back of her car when she and her partner Geoff Hutchinson realised they could not make it to York District Hospital early on Monday.

"I thought there could be a problem but I know the way round the back roads quite well so I thought there was a good chance we'd get through," he said.

But when they reached Pickering at around 6am, with Jane lying on the back seat uttering ''words of Anglo Saxon origin'', he realised that the flood was impassable.

"Some very irritating person overtook us, and the water was washing over the bonnet of the car. The engine started stuttering and we thought we were going to stall."

With Jane's contractions five minutes apart, they set off in the direction of Malton but the roads were closed and they were forced to take the back roads via Kirkby Misperton.

"Five miles from Malton, Jane's contractions were only four minutes apart so we decided there was no way we were going to York," said Geoff.

"We arrived at Malton Hospital just after 7am and at 8.15am the baby was born.

"It was all a bit nerve-racking in that Jane was distressed in the back of the car but it was quite exciting as well."

Social worker Jane, 33, of Appleton-le-Moors, near Kirkbymoorside, and Geoff, 44, a stonemason, are now the proud parents of a 7lb 5oz baby girl, who they are hoping to give a watery name.

Geoff praised the staff at Malton Hospital who reacted calmly to the 'madman' running around the carpark looking for the maternity wing.

Suggestions for appropriately watery names have so far brought in Marina, Poseidon and Neptune but thankfully Geoff's own suggestion, Hippo, is unlikely to be adopted: "I don't think she would appreciate it when she was older," he said.

"The trick is trying to find something that's not absolutely ridiculous and she's not going to hate us for in the future."

The couple told their happy story as Ryedale householders and businesses continued to wait for the floodwaters to subside, with news today that the Derwent has now fallen by a couple of inches.

Agriculture Minister Elliot Morley arrived in the town today, accompanied by Ryedale MP John Greenway.

They were visiting the Ryedale District Council offices for a briefing on the disaster.

Then they were being given a guided tour of both towns before speaking to the communities whose homes have been badly affected by the flood waters.

Mr Greenway, who was travelling with the minister on the train and then joining him in his car for the journey to Malton, told the Evening Press: "The reason for the visit is to give locals some support and morale at what must be a dreadful and horrendous time for them. He would be pushing Mr Morley to find what help and support the Government.

Meanwhile, sightseers are being urged to avoid flooded areas, while residents of Thorganby, East Cottingwith, Bubwith and Barmby, downstream of Malton, are bracing themselves for similar problems.

Train services through Malton on the York-Scarborough line remain suspended due to the flooding.

A Railtrack spokesman said: "Once the water has subsided, the engineers will be checking the track for damage.

"Obviously, at the moment, we cannot assess the damage as the tracks are still covered by the water.

"Once our engineers can examine the damage, we will firstly be checking the track itself, but also the level-crossing and the signalling equipment.

"It is impossible to say how much damage has been caused at this stage. This is the biggest problem we have had to face in Railtrack's short history."

Nightmare as floods swamp family home

by Adrian Royles and Mike Laycock

A couple told today how they were forced to abandon their home to rising floodwater - and praised the authorities for the "fantastic" help they were given in their hour of need.

HIGH AND DRY: Howard Keal and his wife, Di, who have been flooded out of their home in Norton, along with their three children Picture by Steven Bradshaw

Howard and Di Keal and their three children are just one of numerous families whose homes in Norton have been devastated by floods from the swollen River Derwent.

They said it was last Friday when the river started rising into the garden of their home of four years in St Nicholas Street.

"I was actually out all day on Saturday with my eldest daughter," said Di. "When I came back, my husband was mopping the dining room floor, but it was just a losing battle."

Howard, a former Evening Press reporter who now works as a press officer for the train company Northern Spirit, said: "It was when I saw the door mat floating towards me that I knew we were in trouble. I had been doing the Canute bit and mopping up when it started coming up through the floor boards."

Di said: "At 6pm on Sunday, we tried to lift the new carpet in the living room. But, when we tried that, the floorboards lifted and the water just came through the foundations like a stream. It's in my fridge, dishwasher, cooker and my new washing machine."

The children were evacuated first, sent to their grandparents near Hull.

The younger ones enjoyed going off in the boat, the oldest was more upset. Howard and Di planned to stay on... until the power supply failed and there was no sanitation either.

"They left by boat on Monday afternoon and are now staying in a local hotel, while trying to find a holiday cottage to rent for themselves and their children.

"It wasn't too smelly yesterday. But now the doors are shut, I'm sure it's going to be horrendous when we go back in - absolutely stinking," said Di. "We won't be able to get back into the house for weeks, especially with the children."

Howard said: "I just don't know how we are ever going to get it sorted. I spent the summer holidays decorating."

But the couple both say the authorities could not have done more to help. "I've heard some people slagging off the council and the emergency services, but I think they were fantastic," said Di. The council staff worked through the night dishing out sandbags and everything, and the fire and rescue service were excellent as well."

Meanwhile, flood damage to the Maynews newsagents shop in Stamford Bridge has been described as "devastating" by the company's boss.

Shop staff were forced to put up the Closed sign as flood waters rose on Sunday.

Tony Wright, managing director of the York-based Maynews chain, said: "We managed to get our Sunday papers out and then had to depart very quickly. Otherwise, our manager's car would have been down the river with everything else."

Mr Wright said: "The shop is now under about 5ft of water. It's devastating, but there's nothing much we can do about Mother Nature, unfortunately."

He said: "I think the shop is a write-off. We've lost all the stock. God knows what it's going to be like when we eventually get back in."

Manager Christine Caffrey is making sure regular customers continue to receive their newspapers by having them sent to her home and then arranging deliveries from there.

Pub doing well from disaster

THE MEDIA scrum covering the River Derwent flood disaster is bringing in welcome business for a restaurant at Stamford Bridge.

Helen Driscoll, who owns the Corn Mill with her husband Mike, said trade was brisk even though the public bar was under about 3ft of water.

She said: "We're open for everything but draught beer and lager because we have lost the cellar now.

"But we're still serving snacks and so on. We've got all the TV crews here having lunch and other meals, so we're getting a bit of business out of it."

Mrs Driscoll said they were operating from the upper levels of the pub and restaurant, having salvaged as much bottled beer and other supplies as they could from downstairs.

"The basement level, where the public bar is, is immersed to a depth of about 3ft at the moment."

Asked how long they could continue trading, Mrs Driscoll said: "It depends on how the stocks last, because it's going to be very difficult for us to get deliveries."

Click here for previous stories regarding the flooding

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.