Bentley's residents try to pick up the pieces after floods

Anyone looking for a scapegoat to blame for this week's devastating floods in Doncaster could do worse than point the finger at Cornelius Vermuyden, the Dutch engineer who, in 1627, diverted the river Don northwards to the Ouse from its natural drainage point into the Trent to ease the passage of coal barges bound for the Pennines.

But yesterday in Bentley's High Street, under several feet of water for a fourth day following Monday's deluge, the accusations were of an altogether more sinister nature. According to local conspiracy theorists, the redbrick industrial suburb had been sacrificed by diverting floodwaters set to overwhelm a nearby power station, a charge the Doncaster mayor, Martin Winter was forced to deny on yesterday's Today programme.

The truth, however, is altogether more prosaic. Becks and dykes have been unable to discharge the seven inches of rainwater which have fallen into the Don, sending it back into the High Street.

People who have lived here for decades had had no idea they were living in a potential flood zone before the rains came this week. "I have cried buckets over this," said Kath Kelly, a chiropodist who has been practising in Bentley for 20 years. "I had no idea this could happen," she said as she sought to salvage equipment from the submerged consulting room.

A neighbour, Rita Prendergast, has owned a hairdressers on the High Street since 1960. She said she was vaguely aware the area had flooded soon after the Second World War, but was unprepared for the events of this week. Despite rising water levels she had continued cutting hair until Wednesday but was finally driven from her salon. "I didn't bother saving anything because you just don't think it will come to this," she said.

Leslie Meanwell's mobility scooter was parked next to the sandbags stacked outside his flat. A river was running where once an alleyway had led to the pensioner's back garden. But he remained philosophical. "You can't beat nature but we're still surviving so it wouldn't be right to grumble," he said. Keeley Greaves, the mother of a four-year-old, was less fortunate. Her house, backing on to the Don, was still under water as was her workplace. "My home smells like a ditch - like a sewer," she said. "All my carpets have got to come up, my three-piece suite and TV are ruined - everything is contaminated." Engineers were trying last night to pump the floodwater from the worst-hit areas back into the now shrunken Don. But with two inches of rain forecast for the weekend, pumping equipment was staying where it was and everyone in Bentley could only cross their fingers and hope.