Following rainfall described as “not far from biblical” by one emergency contractor, a Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service crew have been deployed to South Yorkshire to assist with the resulting severe flooding in the Doncaster area. Doncaster Council warned some residents to evacuate their homes because the River Don was breaching its banks near St Oswald Church at Kirk Sandall.
The council tweeted: "There is a Severe Flood Warning in place for Sandal Grove, Old Kirk Sandall. Residents in these areas are advised to evacuate immediately."
Due to the sheer amount of resources the large-scale evacuation would entail, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue requested aid from a number of external Fire Services at 02:00 this morning. A team from Shrewsbury Fire Station was deployed to assist alongside crews from Lancashire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Wales amongst others.
They have so far been involved with rescuing one male stranded on the roof of his Range Rover, evacuating two residents from their home and delivering vital medication to a 13-month-old baby. In response to the Range Rover rescue, Crew Manager Steve Perks stressed that “no matter where you are in the country, be aware of flood warnings and review your journey to avoid high-risk areas. It is important that drivers do not attempt to navigate through flood water.”
Chief Fire Officer Rod Hammerton commended the UK Fire Services’ ability to come together at times of extreme adversity, he said “our Fire Services care greatly for their local communities, but it is at times like this when residents are facing extreme situations, that we can join forces and protect people on a national level, regardless of geography. Although Shropshire is one of the smaller Fire and Rescue Services, we are always ready and prepared to assist those who need us most.
We are pleased and proud to send our commanders and crews to help other communities. Not only does it directly assist the communities, it helps us by making sure our specialists maintain a high level of expertise”.
The weather in South Yorkshire is set to improve over the next few days, with the weekend seeing the start of a much-needed dry spell, but the area will be dealing with the after effects for some time to come.
To keep up to date with flood alerts in your local area, or plan a safe route to a destination further afield, head to flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/warnings or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188.
