UK flooding: Devastated families claim they were 'sacrificed' to the floods

Hundreds of homeowners were left counting the cost after their houses were swamped when a flood gate was deliberately raised

A woman in York is taken to safety in a dinghy (AFP/Getty)

The anger was palpable along Huntington Road in York, where families waded through water to try to salvage treasured possessions from their flooded homes as Prime Minister David Cameron visited the city.

Hundreds of homeowners were left counting the cost after their houses near the River Foss were swamped when a flood gate was deliberately raised at the height of the deluge to prevent it from becoming stuck.

Many were left wanting answers as their homes and cars remained under water. One couple was seen using a canoe to try to return to their flooded home and others waded knee-deep to their doorsteps.

Maggie Caudwell, who lives on the street, said: “It’s okay for David Cameron to play helicopters and come here for a photoshoot, but what happened with that flood barrier was pathetic.

“We have all this engineering prowess and we still get flooded. If the gate had stayed closed, this would not have happened. I just feel so angry.”

David Rudrum and Alice Brumby were pouring water out of their wellies after wading through the water to see what could be saved in their home, where wallpaper had begun peeling from the walls.

“I’d like to know how the decision was made to open that gate,” Mr Rudrum said. “York has had flooding before, but the Foss never floods because it is protected by that flood barrier.”

Jacqui Scales, 54, and her brother Philip were also trying to access the home of their mother Mavis Hildred, 86, a day after they were rescued by a mountain rescue team.

“The water came in so quickly and soon it was running everywhere,” she said. “I just can’t believe they made the decision to open the gate. They threatened so many people’s lives. If mum had been on her own, I don’t know what she would have done.”

Large parts of York city centre remained without power yesterday, with phone lines cut off. Long queues formed at cash machines as owners of flooded shops near York’s other flooded river, the Ouse, surveyed the damage.

Crowds watched as an Army Chinook helicopter made repeated trips overhead as it airlifted supplies to the city’s beleaguered flood defences.

Neil and Francesca McClure climbed down a ladder and waded across a yard at the back of their flooded four-storey home overlooking the Ouse, where they had been holed up for three days.

Mrs McClure, 31, said: “The water has started to drop, so we felt it was safe enough to come out and try to get some shopping.

“The flood has created carnage. There were no sandbags and it was a case of having to fend for ourselves. Something needs to be done. London can cope with floods, so why can’t York.”

In Coppergate, two volunteers dressed as Vikings were turning customers away from the Jorvik Viking Centre after the electricity died. The Grand Opera House had to cancel two performances of Jack and the Beanstalk after the orchestral pit was flooded.

Back at Huntington Road, Debbie Wood was looking across the water at the flooded house where her parents Barry and Val, who are both in their seventies, have lived for the last 30 years.

“They have had this house all these years and it has never flooded,” she said. “The River Foss never floods. Mum is extremely angry. She feels as though they have been sacrificed.”