Woman left jobless and homeless after Yorkshire floods submerge her business and home – and insurers WON’T cover damage
A VICTIM of the Yorkshire floods wept as she revealed how she’s lost her home and business in the devastating deluge.
Pam Webb, from Fishlake, near Doncaster, found her home and luxury spa in the village submerged in water and has since learned her insurance will not cover the damage.
Stricken residents have been warned to expect further heartache as more ‘danger to life’ flood warnings have been issued by the Met Office for later this week.
Ms Webb sobbed: “My insurance company have excluded flood from my policy.
“I feel really selfish in saying this and I hope that other people aren’t in this boat but I’ve lost my home and my business and my livelihood that I’ve worked so hard for.
“And the girls who worked for me, or worked with me, it’s their livelihoods as well. And a lot of them are only young. Some of them have got young families and I’ve tried to look after them the best I can.
“Fishlake has never flooded in 100 years so my, if you want to say, anger is… why has it now flooded? You know, it’s happened so we need to now establish why and how and who should be accountable.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency cobra meeting today to discuss the government’s response to the flooding
Around half the 700 residents of Fishlake left the village as the River Don burst its banks last week.
Those who stayed behind have been forced to battle waist-high floods.
Doncaster Council said it cannot provide “on the ground support” in Fishlake and urged the residents to leave their homes for their own safety.
Chief executive Damian Allen said: “We are concerned over reports that some residents remain in the Fishlake area.
“South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue crews are on hand to evacuate any Fishlake residents who may be stuck in their homes, and we would urge everybody to take advantage of this.
“The council are unable to offer on-the-ground support to residents who are in severe flood warning areas, based on advice from the Environment Agency.”
Mr Allen said a rest centre had been set up in nearby Stainforth, and the latest advice is that the Environment Agency does not expect flood waters in Fishlake to start to go down for at least the next 24 hours.
The council’s statement came after villagers complained about a lack of support from town hall chiefs.
The Army confirmed specialist engineers from 170 Engineering Group were been called in on Sunday to provide advice in Bentley – a few miles upstream from Fishlake.
In a tweet, The Army also said a Chinook helicopter from the military’s Joint Helicopter Command “will soon be on task with aggregate used for strengthening the flood defences protecting homes”.
RAF Odiham posted pictures of the huge helicopters dropping aggregate bags north of Doncaster.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for heavy rain on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
All cover the South Yorkshire area and the crucial catchment area of the River Don, which remains high along its length.
MORE RAIN PREDICTED
Meteorologist Sophie Yeomans said a weather system moving across Europe will cause a “fair amount” of rainfall across England and Wales throughout the week.
“It is going to be an unsettled week in terms of rain,” she said.
The rain is forecast to reach Northern Ireland first on Sunday evening before hitting Wales and north-west England later in the night, and then spreading across the rest of the UK into Monday morning.
The warnings cover the same areas that are still dealing with the aftermath from Thursday and Friday’s downpours stretching from Yorkshire to Derbyshire and the East Midlands.
“Some catchments in the north are still sensitive at the moment,” Ms Yeomans said.
