Leicestershire's worst-hit residents speak out on 'scary' floods
Residents in the worst-hit areas of Leicestershire have re-lived the horror of the "scary" floods which have devastated many. Others have spoken of their relief at missing out on major damage after they received phone warnings of a "severe alert" late on Monday night (January 6) amid the rising water.
Among the areas most devastated by the floods is Barrow Upon Soar where a "danger to life" flood warning was issued overnight. Today (Tuesday, January 7), residents living on the village's flood plains in boats and caravans have spoken of their horror at the situation which saw many evacuated from their homes.
Jenny Capenhurst, who lives on her boat at Barrow Boating, was worried as the flood waters rose on Monday. She said: "It was worrying because I don't know what would have happened if the water had got much higher than it did."
READ MORE: Live Leicestershire flooding updates amid 'danger to life' warning
The 62-year-old continued: "I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on the boat. I've been here 10 years and I haven't seen it this bad in a long while. It seems to be going down at least - hopefully there's no risk now. I know it's been really bad at Proctor's Park and a lot of people live there all year round."
The severity of the situation on Monday night led church members at Barrow Upon Soar's methodist church to be called in to help evacuaees from Proctors Park which has been central to the flooding and subsequent rescue efforts. Janet Thompson said: "We were called last night and were here by 8pm getting the coffee ready. The first to arrive was a man who couldn't get to his boat.
"We heard caravans on the park had the water up to their windows but we've seen it before. Some caravans probably won't be fit for use again and there are a lot of caravans there, although I don't know how many people are living there. This time was probably worse. It's probably something to do with the drains and the new housing making things worse."
The situation at Proctors Park had many onlookers on Tuesday, with Dawn Norris from Sileby among then. The 59-year-old told LeicestershireLive: "I've lived around here for 15 years and it's the worst I've ever seen it. The scary thing was the speed it came up. It's awful - lots of homes and cars are flooded. It's bad in parts of Sileby and Quorn as well. Brook Street in Sileby gets it every year."
Robert Clare, of Syston, was out in the town taking pictures of the floods on Monday evening and on Tuesday morning he was trying to get to Quorn to visit his mother-in-law. However, the 50-year-old did not think he'd manage to get there with all the road closures and had stopped in Barrow Upon Soar, like many other people, to look at the floods.
He said: "Syston was the worst I've ever seen it. Lots of houses were affected on Monday. All along West Street the water was up to people's front doors and it came in the back of mine a bit.
"Shops had water in them, too. Whether places got water inside just depended on how high their front doorsteps were."
Other West Street residents had been shocked by the speed of the rising water, which led to raw sewage flooding the streets. Sandie MacPherson was out bleaching her front yard on Tuesday morning.
She said: "All the drains backed up and there was poo and toilet paper floating around. Syston was basically under water. Inside we were fine but it was right up to the doorstep again. It was bad last year, too. Our next door neighbours had to replace their floors last year."
Janet Tipton, who is in her 70s, also had damage last year but the action taken by her insurance company kept her safe from water this year. She said: "After last January my insurers provided a new front door and flood sacks but I feel I've been lucky. The water in the park was higher than last year."
Her neighbour, Brian Bradbury, 76, who has lived in his house nearly half a century, agreed. He said: "The playing field was like a lake and the water came within about two inches of coming into my house this time.
"It was very worrying. One of my neighbours had it in his cellar under his stairs. I've never seen it quite as bad before. It was very bad."