About 400 houses in Selby were flooded after the river Ouse burst its banks on Friday, and water levels were waist-high yesterday in some parts of the town.Betty Price, 46, spent the weekend at the school with her brother and two daughters aged 17 and 10, after evacuating her home in the early hours of Friday morning.”There is no one left there now,” she said “You cannot get the bus or Army in We had no warning as such The Army just came The Ouse is just 10 yards from our home and it is flooded We didn’t have time to move furniture No one is allowed up there now.”It has horrendous effects. I have had to leave my two cats, and the RSPCA say they cannot get into the area There is so much going on We have not slept for 48 hours. Tempers are starting to get frayed.”Paul Town, 49, a manager from Barlby, was fed up “I am still in my work clothes We are starting to get smelly,” he said “We have no change of clothing You cannot get back to our house. The kids thought it was all good fun to start with, but that soon changed when a horrible smell started to drift into the water.”St John Ambulance and WRVS volunteers handed out warm drinks, chips and bacon sandwiches to about 200 of the 800 people forced to evacuate Barlby, half a mile from Selby town centre.
Others who arrived at the school turned their noses up at what was on offer and went to stay with relatives.With more heavy rainfall and gales expected last night, police warned residents they may not be able to return home for several days. Up to 6,000 more people are on standby to be moved as floodwaters threaten to reach their highest levels in 100 years.A further three inches of rainfall is expected in parts of England over the next three days, according to the Met Office. Hundreds of thousands of tons of water were threatening to burst through a mile-long section of a 10 metre high grass flood bank. Selby already has floodwater on three sides.Police toured the streets with loudhailers at the weekend, urging residents to leave their homes,as thousands of gallons of water began flowing into residential areas.
About 75 per cent of the town lost electricity, and supplies have still not been restored. A severe weather warning was issued in Yorkshire yesterday, but many people in Selby were without power and could not hear radio or television alerts.Uniformed patrols guarded homes from looters, while 100 soldiers from the King’s Own Regiment at Catterick, North Yorkshire, sandbagged a 400m stretch of Selby river defences in the town centre.Inspector Malcolm Green, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “At the moment we are monitoring the height of the river very carefully. As a precaution, on Saturday night we evacuated people from the Selby North area, which has around 6,000 people. We have particularly concentrated on the elderly and infirm.”Other residents have been advised to be ready at short notice People have been very good. We are telling people if they are advised to evacuate please do so.