Flood Heroes

I was at work in Tewkesbury on the day that the rains came down! You could easily hear the continuous droning of the heavy rain on the thin roof. That afternoon, reports started to come in to the office of roads starting to flood and people made noises that leaving early may be a good plan!

As it turned out, I didn't leave until gone 4.30pm. I could see things were going to be bad as soon as I hit a traffic jam on the main road between Tewkesbury and Evesham.

Traffic on the M5 during July floods

My normal route home (Upper Welland) via the M5 and M50 should be fine, I thought. Just as I was about to turn onto the M5 slip road, I heard a sharp warning come from BBC Hereford & Worcester: "M50 closed going west". Looking back on this now, that was perfect timing, but I was still snarled up in Tewkesbury centre at gone 6pm.

By the time I had been directed around a major torrent by two heroes wearing fluorescent yellow Big Chill jackets in Eastnor, it was nearly 8pm.

I had driven through the worst floods I'd ever witnessed.

With the radio still blaring away and the Malvern to Ledbury road blocked with drowning lorries and trucks, BBC Hereford & Worcester announced that the Ledbury Community Centre had become a rescue centre - my next port-of-call!

I was up at the crack of dawn - tea and toast was being laid on thick and fast! It was announced that a route through Castlemorton had been opened up. Several handshakes later and I was on my way. I heard the last to leave was at 7pm on the Saturday!

A big thank you to all those who manned the Ledbury Community Centre.