Village where 7ft of filthy water is lapping... at the rooftops
ONCE, there was a shop, a road and a car park here. Now, there is just water.
This is the Somerset village of East Lyng, where floodwater has reached depths of seven feet.
As filthy brown water laps at windows and threatens homes, the pretty farmhouses and flower-lined streets have been abandoned by families fleeing the deluge.
Two of the village’s four roads are now flooded and one business – the Somerset Levels Basket and Craft Centre – is almost completely submerged, its roof just visible over the water.
And last night, fresh downpours threatened to cut the village’s only land link.
While residents continue to battle to keep the flood at bay, one water-logged homeowner has refused to leave and is now living with a stream flowing into her ground floor.
Pat Mennim, 77, said: ‘We have got no heating and it’s very cold. The water pumps are no longer doing any good – they’re pumping it out just as fast as it’s coming in again.
‘But I don’t want to leave. I’m worried about looting.’
Mrs Mennim and her daughter Georgina, 42, moved their horses to higher ground on Sunday when the flood began to overwhelm their property.
But the pair, along with their 17-year- old cat Bumble, have defiantly hung on, saying: ‘ We have nowhere else to go.’
Meanwhile, just across the road, Ian and Lesley Webber are doing everything they can to keep the flood at bay.
Agricultural contractor Mr Webber, 49, told the Daily Mail: ‘ We’ve got 2,000 sand bags and 12 pumps working 24 hours a day.
‘All of our farm buildings are four feet six inches under water, and we are fighting to keep it out of the house.
‘I’m up half the night checking on the pumps, it’s really exhausting. But across the road the water is up to seven feet deep.’
Mrs Webber, 52, added: ‘We have a ten-bag high defence all around our house and the water is up to bag number eight now.
‘Our next- door neighbours were forced to leave last week because the water rose to about three- quarters of the way up their front door, it was horrible.
‘We are higher than them, probably one of the highest houses in the village. This house is 120 years old and has not flooded at all in that time.’
Meanwhile, as Environment Agency engineers embark on a complex strategy to drain the Somerset Levels, villagers have accused the authorities of ‘sacrificing’ their homes to protect nearby towns.
Emergency dykes have been dug to save Bridgwater and Taunton and extra pumps imported from Holland to divert the water towards drainage channels and rivers.
But residents of the low-lying villages fear the accumulated water will simply be diverted towards their homes.
Widow Lily Elderfield of Westonzoyland said: ‘I am elderly and I am very, very frightened. The floodwater has already entered my garden and it won’t take much more before it’s in my house.
Neighbour Colin Bennet, 62, added: ‘We’ve heard rumours that the Environment Agency is prepared to deliberately sacrifice Westonzoyland to save Bridgwater.’
In a statement, the Environment Agency said: ‘ This is an emergency situation and some difficult decisions have to be made.’