Nurse criticises emergency response as floods hit Yorkshire
A nurse has said he’s “angry and “frustrated” by the emergency response to Storm Antoni, after his town in North Yorkshire was hit with floods over the weekend.
Paul Jones-King, 47, came home from his shift to find that water had burst through into his home, after the town’s drainage system was unable to cope with heavy rainfall.
He says it’s the second time in three years that Loftus, North Yorkshire, has experienced flooding, which has damaged properties and forced people to flee the area.
“I just want to cry to be honest with you,” Mr Jones-King said.
“I’m a nurse, I finished a night shift, was sat having a cup of coffee before I was due to go to bed, and literally within 10 minutes your house is flooding.“
The man estimated that around 20 homes had been affected, and had not received support from Redcar council.
“It really is down to the Environment Agency to come up with a solution rather than just saying, ‘unfortunately you’re in a flooded area’.”
He added: “It’s a real poor response from Redcar and Cleveland Council. There’s no support, they’ve dumped some bags, and that’s it, they’ve gone.
“Delivering sandbags seven hours after an event is just a complete waste of time for everybody.”
He said that it had taken months for the town to recover from floods three years ago, and that more rain forecast over the weekend meant that he felt “stuck in limbo.”
A number of people were evacuated from their homes in North Yorkshire. Cleveland police said residents in Loftus and Carlin How were evacuated and the fire service and local authority are supporting those affected.
A spokesman for the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said: “The council responded immediately when called out to the need for help and a crew was deployed to the scene by early morning. Further crews were mobilised throughout the morning as the scale of the flooding became apparent.
“The crews were at the scene all day to work with the emergency services to keep people safe. This work included making roads safe to use, clearing gulleys to allow the water to run away and providing help to residents to protect their homes.
“The work to repair damage caused will continue in the coming days and we would like to thank all those who gave their time and expertise to ensure people were safe in the aftermath of the flooding.”
The Met Office said that 43 mm of rain fell in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, over the weekend, almost half of the U.K’s average rainfall.
Several power cuts were also reported across Ireland, with hundreds of people in Carrigaline and Crosshaven in County Cork left without power on Saturday morning.
The weather is set to be calmer on Sunday, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. Drier and warmer conditions are expected later in the week.
