Last updated at 13:20, Thursday, 06 September 2012

THE White Mare Hotel at Beckermet was under 4ft of water after the beck which runs through the village overflowed.

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The cellars, bottom bar and ground-floor hotel rooms were swamped with flood-water on Thursday morning – but thanks to the community rallying around, the pub was able to re-open on Thursday night.

A couple staying in one of the ground floors escaped through their bedroom window because the force of the beck water was so strong they couldn’t open the door. Landlord PHIL WARD said: “The pub looked like it was in the middle of a river.”

Guests BARBARA and JAMES MELROSE, from Chichester, heard the rain get heavier and when Mrs Melrose got out of bed, she stepped in water.

She said: “I opened the door and could see the courtyard filling up and I came back to pack my bags but when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge so we had to climb out of the window.

“Landlord PHIL WARD was the hero of the night helping us all and he even let us stay in his private flat. He was up serving breakfast again this morning.”

At the house next door to the hotel, owned by JULIET and ZACH HUDSON, the ground floor was completely flooded. Mr and Mrs Hudson salvaged as many of their possessions as they could and took them upstairs. They watched helplessly out of the bedroom window as the flood waters rose. The beck which runs alongside their house had forced a wall down and came crashing into their garden and home.

Mrs Hudson said: “I’m just in total shock. I just can’t believe what has happened.

“I have been watching out of the window as our belongings were swept away.

“Even the two cars which were parked outside were swept away, the water was so fierce, it was just horrendous.“To start off with, the water was just coming over the wall and five minutes later because of the sheer pressure of the water the wall at the bottom of the garden collapsed.

“There was just nothing we could do. The conservatory door was pulled off its hinges and we just couldn’t stop it coming through. We put pillows against the doors, but the water came through the doors and the windows. I just went upstairs. It was terrifying, because the water was moving so fast.”

Many in the village however were counting their blessings that floodwaters didn’t swamp their houses. As the floods hit, residents sat tight praying that the waters wouldn’t hit their doorsteps.

KERRY MORRIS, of The Villas, said that she was so scared her house was going to be hit by the raging waters that she, her husband and dog took shelter in the nearby Royal Oak Hotel. The water did not rise as high as their home, although the garden was swamped.

“The garden was full of water,” said Mrs Morris. “We abandoned the house and went to the Royal Oak because there was four feet of water going down the main street.

“We came back to the house at 6am and it had all settled down. I was expecting the worst, that there would be really bad damage to my property. Nobody expects the water to get up that viciously because its a beck. The beck has just left devastation in its path.”

Another lucky resident was WILLIAM PARK, who said that a recently installed culvert in the village prevented the flooding from becoming more widespread.

Mr Park watched the waters rise in the torrential rain until they engulfed the bridge – at the point where the becks of Kerbeck and Blackbeck meet – in the early hours.

The water subsided just before it reached a row of houses, Kerbeck Cottages, where Mr Park lives with his mother, MOLLY PARK.

“We were very lucky. The water was streaming down the road but we escaped the it reaching as far as our house,” said Mr Park. “I heard the thunder and lightning around 12.30am and then I was watching it like a hawk.

“I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I’m sure the culvert saved us. Some others in the village unfortunately have not been so lucky.”

First published at 11:05, Thursday, 06 September 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk