Floods strike county again

Towns and villages in Shropshire were devastated for the third time in a month as torrential rain swept through the county causing millions of pounds of damage.

Towns such as Much Wenlock, Tenbury Wells, pictured right, Ludlow and Craven Arms and villages such as Clun, Aston-on-Clun, Ditton Priors and Leintwardine suffered massive damage as flood water swept into homes and businesses.

See also - Your storm photos 1 & Your storm photos 2

Many areas were sealed off by police and fire crews who said it was impossible to reach them. Scores were evacuated from the worst hit areas.

Chris Dell, Tenbury Wells tourism chief, said the floods were the worst yet.

He said: "This is a disaster. It's horrific. It's worse than before. We thought the floods earlier this week and on June 26 were bad, but we were wrong. We've never seen anything like this.

"You can row the whole length of Teme Street and Market Street. Church Street is totally washed out. The houses will be completely flooded. It's absolutely awful. The speed of the river is frightening. The sheer noise of the river is frightening."

Mr Dell said 60 people had to be taken to safety. "It's horrific, people are in tears. It's going to cost millions of pounds. We need serious Government help."

Rivers and streams burst their banks yesterday afternoon and motorists abandoned cars in deep water. People were asked to leave their homes, dozens of roads were closed, police closed major trunk roads like the A49, near Church Stretton, where there was 18 inches of standing water today and the emergency services were at full stretch.

Weathermen said Shropshire had more than three-and-a-half inches of rain in 36 hours. They said there would be further rain throughout the day and low temperatures.

Many people had to sleep in their cars overnight. South Shropshire Leisure Centre was used as a refuge for people who had to leave their homes while scores of people had to sleep in their cars at Ludlow's Travelodge, which, like many local hotels, was quickly fully booked by stranded motorists.

The Environment Agency said flood levels in Shrewsbury were also rising to critical levels and flood defences in Frankwell were being erected today.

A Victorian toilet block in Tenbury Wells fell into the river and locals there said the floods were as bad as anything they had seen in recent times.

Clun was impassable as water flooded the village, Tenbury Wells had several feet of water in the town centre, Craven Arms was impassable as a culvert broke its banks and Ludlow came close to suffering a repeat of the floods from June 26.

Daphne Lewis, of West Midlands Ambulance Service, urged people only to call in case of emergency because the service was at full stretch.

Andy Johnson, for Shropshire fire service, said there remained severe problems at Craven Arms this morning and the A49 was impassable. He said: "We've been at Craven Arms since early evening. There appears to be a brook that runs through a culvert under the A49. The culvert wasn't big enough and water rose.The water was threatening the A49 and local properties.

"We used a heavy pumping unit to divert the water away. We made a big difference to the A49." A group of youngsters from Newport, South Wales, were unable to make it across Shropshire following a visit to West Midlands Safari Park.

They set off for home at 4.30pm. However, by midnight, they were still stuck in south Shropshire and they had to spend the night at South Shropshire Leisure Centre.

In Powys the A483 between Pool Quay and Buttington, near Welshpool, was flooded today causing traffic to be diverted.

Meanwhile, AFC Telford United's pre-season match at Gloucester has been called off.

By Andy Richardson