Yahoo News Rossendale charity owner left 'truly devastated' after Storm Bert flooding ruined shop four days after it opened
A charity owner has been left devastated after Storm Bert flooding ruined his shop just four days after it opened.
Andrew Jones, 39, says Bacup Bargains in Rossendale - which provides support for the local community - was damaged by the flooding on Saturday (November 23). He even had to use stock from the non-for-profit organisation, which opened on Wednesday (November 20), to try and stop the water from getting into the business.
Andrew and his team of volunteers are now cleaning up the premises, but he's been left "devastated" by the flooding. He said: "I've been left devastated, truly devastated.
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"When we got the building, we wasn't aware of any flood risks. We did our research and found that there's been times where the water has got high up, but never to the point where it's flooded the buildings.
"It was a whole new level on Saturday and Sunday, it's something that I've never seen before. We've had to do a good clean-up operation, we've had to put some more carpet down and buy new mats.
"People haven't been able to come and visit the business, so we've lost money that way as well. We just want people to come and support us, so we can help them."
Andrew said he first noticed that the flooding was getting "deeper and deeper" so decided to use some of his stock to create a barrier. But as a result of this, he lost £100 worth of items that he could have sold.
Andrew, of Bacup, said: "It started around dinnertime on Saturday, I saw it coming down the hill and thought that it wasn't normal. It got deeper and deeper but cars were still driving on the road, so it was pushing water into the business.
"We managed to use some clothes, which were our stock, so we have lost around £100 worth of stock as a result of the flooding. We also used some door mats that we were selling, so we tried to create a flood barrier with that."
Andrew says that some of the drains near the shop were blocked with leaves, which is why he thinks it flooded the street so bad. He said: "I came down on Sunday and the drains were blocked with leaves.
"I went round and unblocked around 13 drains and within an hour, the water had gone. If the drains weren't so blocked up, then I think it could have been prevented."
Pete Lewis, 44, has owned The Waterloo pub in Bacup for around four months and says carpets and beer barrels were damaged by the flooding.
He said: "The rain started quite early in the morning and the snow started melting, so that was it. The drains got blocked up and couldn't handle it.
"The carpets have been ripped up and the beer barrels in the basement have been damaged - the whole place got flooded."
Pete says there "wasn't much" he could do to prevent the water from getting into his business, as it quickly "filled the cellar up."
He said: "There wasn't much we could do because once it started going in through the cellar, it just filled the cellar up. Then it got worse and worse.
"We aren't very happy about it but it's one of those things, it probably will happen again in the future."
