Sandbags and trapped cars as roads flooded
THESE dramatic photos bring home the enormous effect that the aftereffects of Storm Christoph had on parts of Derbyshire yesterday.
The River Wye and River Derwent both burst their banks in parts of the county after Christoph brought days’ worth of rain in just hours, causing river levels to swell.
The towns of Bakewell and Darley Dale were badly affected by flooding.
In Bakewell, people living next to the Wye needed sandbags to help try to stem the flow of water overnight.
On the nearby A6, some drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles after getting stuck in the floodwater.
Nine flood warnings were issued for the Derwent outside Derby, while the Wye had four issued and six were put in place for the River Trent in the south of the county.
In Matlock, flood defences helped the town to escape a repeat of the scenes witnessed in November 2019, when businesses were left ruing the cost of flooding.
The A6 at Rowley was closed due to flooding but Derbyshire County Council later said it had reopened. However, a number of road closures remained in place.
In South Derbyshire, the Trent also flooded, closing roads and overwhelming low-lying fields.
Yesterday the scale of the flooding became clear, with drone footage from Derbyshire Constabulary showing an “ocean” of water outside Darley Dale where the Derwent had burst its banks.
In the process the river, which reached its highest level in years, flooded fields that had been dry and clear of water only days before.
There was also flooding in Ashbourne, where residents were forced to put sandbags around their properties when water invaded their streets.
There were also dramatic scenes in Doveridge, where the River Dove covered fields and nearly engulfed a pedestrian suspension bridge in the area.