Heavy downpours throu-ghout the night left villagers in Weaverthorpe and West Lutton fearing a repeat of last summer's devastating floods which caused millions of pounds worth of damage and left many without a roof over their heads.

Jarrod Fisher, landlord at The Blue Bell Inn, Weaverthorpe, said the heavens opened shortly after 6pm but panic did not set in until he saw the village green start to flood.

Mr Fisher said: "I have lived here for eight years and it is the first time I have seen the village green flooded. We have the Gypsey Race running through the village and it was dry one minute and then the next minute it was full to the top. It was quite unbelievable.

"I didn't panic because I have seen it fill up before but when I saw the village green flooding I thought here we go again," Mr Fisher added.
According to Mr Fisher, at one point flood water on the roads blocked access through the village. "There were customers coming in who couldn't get through the village as there was a good few feet of water on the road.

"The rain seemed to be pin pointed over us," he said.

Mr Fisher was not the only Landlord fighting to protect his livelihood during the night with Weaverthorpe publican Benji Micallef using sandbags to stop the flood water coming in through the front door of The Star Inn.

Mr Micallef said: "There is a boulder outside my pub and the water came to half way up that, in fact it was half way up my shins at one point. I managed to find some sandbags and had to put them up against the front door. The cellar was wet, too, but I have got a pump down there to dry it out."

The village of West Lutton also faced similar disruption with some residents reporting a smell of sewage coming in along with the flood water.

Gerald Stookes, a member of staff at The Three Tuns Inn, said: "It rained very hard and the island outside the Three Tuns was completely surrounded by water and the lady next door to us had to keep sweeping the water away from her doorstep.

"It was completely flooded and it has left an awful mess. There is mud and green slime outside and it did smell of sewage at one point. The whole village was affected and we had customers coming in saying there were floods everywhere. When it first started it was fine and we could keep up with the water, but when we had the sudden downpour that was it."

With the Met Office forecasting more rain for the region over the weekend, villagers are hoping there will be time to see the mess from this latest spate of floods cleared away.

sara.beach@yrnltd.co.uk