As Storm Franklin raged through the night, Mick Malkinson, 72, lay awake with a familiar sense of fear about what the morning would bring.
From his riverside home in Tadcaster, a Yorkshire market town, he heard the “thunderous” noise of metal kegs crashing to the floor as the River Wharfe tore through a brewery warehouse nearby. “The noise was horrendous,” he said. “It was like a world war. There was no sleep at all last night.”
By dawn, the house he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, and their one-year-old cocker spaniel Miska, was among three properties completely cut off by several feet of flood water. “All we can see is a vast lake of water. We can’t get out. It will be up to my neck at the end of my drive. We will be stuck here for a couple of days now.”
It is the third time in 10 years that Tadcaster has suffered significant flooding. The last time, in 2015, nearly 100 homes and businesses were damaged when Storm Eva roared downstream, partly demolishing the 18th-century bridge that connects the two sides of the town.
Many of the families and businesses that suffered seven years ago woke to the same fate on Monday: Storm Franklin had led to the flooding of about 60 properties, including a butchers, an estate agent and a beauty salon on the high street. The river level did not rise as high this time as during Storm Eva – peaking at nearly 4 metres compared with 4.51 metres in 2015 – but that was little consolation to those affected.
“We’re devastated. It’s heartbreaking to see it like this. It’s higher than we expected,” said Andy Charlesworth, the chairman of Tadcaster Albion Football Club, whose historic 2,000-capacity stadium was under water for the third time in seven years.
The club has played football on the banks of the Wharfe since its foundation in 1892. Like many of its neighbours, however, it has been looking for a new home because of the ruinous cost of flooding. Few if any local businesses are insured in the event of flood damage – a familiar tale in towns prone to such disasters, despite calls for better protection for small firms.
Charlesworth said the club was looking at between £50,000 and £80,000 worth of damage: “What we really could do with is a Premier League footballer to give us a week’s wages. That would just sort it. They’re not exactly strapped for cash.”
Brian Bartle, 72, leapt out of bed in the early hours to try to salvage what he could from the estate agent founded by his family in 1978. By mid-morning his shop was under water.
“It’s pretty grim,” he said, watching helplessly from 300 metres away, at the edge of the water. It took a year to recover from the 2015 storm, he said, and now he was “back to square one”.
“Last time it was pure neglect by the Environment Agency because the bridge was blocked with trees,” he said. “This time it’s just vast water flow coming down too fast.”
Many local people questioned why it had taken so long to improve the town’s flood defences after the devastation caused by Storm Eva. A report by North Yorkshire county council last June revealed that the works, led by the Environment Agency, had been delayed until 2024 due to “inaccuracies” with the hydrological model behind the plans.
Richard Sweeting, a Conservative district councillor for Tadcaster, said he was “devastated and heartbroken” that the town had been hit again. “The government need to look closely at getting some kind of flood prevention in our town,” he said. “They need to get their act together and put Tadcaster as a priority.”
Zoe Devine, 48, co-owner of the flooded Devine Meats, said millions of pounds had been allocated to flood defences, but the work appeared to have been delayed by the Covid pandemic. “You know that the people you are going to get angry at are the very people who will be out helping you, so getting angry is no good,” said Devine. “We’ve been here and done this before.”
Malkinson, meanwhile, was preparing to spend days trapped in his home. The retired agricultural engineer had tried twice to sell the house after Storm Eva wrecked their ground floor, but it was “basically impossible” owing to the flood risk.
When the flood sirens sounded on Sunday, they had nowhere to go so stayed put and prayed for the rain to stop. No one from the authorities had checked up on them by Monday afternoon, he said: “It is disappointing, especially when they know that our houses are at risk. I’m sure they’ve got a lot on their plate, but it irks sometimes.”
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We are aware of a small number of flooded properties in Tadcaster and are working closely with the emergency services and other agencies to keep the community safe.
“A review of the planned flood risk management scheme in Tadcaster highlighted inaccuracies in the complex modelling of the design. This has unfortunately delayed the start of construction but we are working to progress the scheme as quickly as possible to better protect the community from flooding and extreme weather.”
