Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

In June and July 2007, 50,000 families were flooded out of their homes in the UK’s worst summer floods in living memory. 

Michael Barnett died in a suburban street, in full view of the world’s media, and despite the presence of all three emergency services with all the equipment at their disposal.

And many believed that more could have been done – that the emergency services must have got it wrong. 

What happened?

On the morning of Monday 25th June, residents of Hull woke up to the most widespread flooding the city had ever seen.

Emergency services tried to save Michael.

The rain was pouring down when 28-year-old Michael Barnett left for work that morning.

His father, also called Michael Barnett, warned him as he left the house:

"You know what I told you on Friday," I said, "keep away from that drain". 

The street next to the fish farm where Michael worked in Hessle was already knee deep in water and many local houses were flooded. 

Michael volunteered to try to clear debris from this drain at the end of Astral Close as local people were worried that it was making the flooding worse. And that’s when disaster struck.

Michael’s leg became trapped right up to the thigh in a makeshift grille which had been placed in front of the open drain the previous week. A neighbour dialled 999.

Emergency services arrive

First on the scene was PC Rocky Clark, who was unprepared for the horror:

"As I walked round the corner, it was almost like somebody turned a switch, the volume, people shouting, screaming 'the police are here', it was like somebody had hit you.

PC Rocky Clark was unprepared for the horror.

"I shouted down the radio, 'This is a life threatening situation', and I just got in the water." 

Firefighters arrived to find Michael Barnett trapped up to his neck in water. 

A team of police divers arrived shortly after the firefighters and got into the drain with Michael, but everyone was having real problems with the fast flowing water.

PC Rocky Clark had never seen an incident like it:

"Fill a washing machine with mud and gravel, stand in it and turn it on.

"It was just a raging torrent of brown muddy sewage filled water."

After trying physical force, the police divers – using the fire brigade’s cutting equipment - tried their best to cut the metal bars but the water around the drain was flowing at 15 to 20 knots.

All the time Michael was getting weaker, but was still conscious. 

Incident Commander Taff Evans now decided to winch both the grate and Michael out of the water. 

As the winch pulled out, Michael was sucked under the water. A police diver emerged holding onto Michael's jacket, but Michael himself had disappeared. 

Several firemen and divers jumped instinctively into the water, grabbed hold of Michael and pulled him back up again. 

Increasing desperation

Meanwhile, Michael’s father had arrived at the end of Astral Close. 

But police counselled him to either wait in the police car, or go home, warning him that Michael was unconscious.

One-by-one options were exhausted.

Mr Barnett had no choice but to go home and wait for news.

The emergency services were becoming increasingly desperate. 

A doctor had arrived. 

With no visibility underwater, he ruled out amputation as an option.

Taff Evans, the incident commander, had earlier also considered it too medically risky to lift Michael out vertically. 

But as other options were exhausted one by one, he changed his mind and as a last resort ordered a vertical crane.

As time ran out, PC Rocky Clark could see Michael slipping out of consciousness:

"He was so cold, he was so frightened, he’d almost resigned himself to that fact, and that was written on his face."

Eventually at 2.40pm – nearly four hours after he had first entered the water – Michael Barnett was finally lifted out. He was pronounced dead in hospital at 4 o’clock.

Who to blame?

Michael’s father was waiting at home, "I’d put the television on and it just said, 'Man trapped in drain has died'. I still didn’t believe it. 

"I felt gutted, helpless, I could have been there and helped him."

The story of Michael Barnett’s death was headline news and everybody seemed to know who was to blame.

Ron Morton: hurt by criticism of rescue services.

Divers like Ron Morton who’d battled to save him, now found themselves under fire, with criticism in the local and national press:

"I could pass someone in the street and they wouldn’t criticise me personally, it just hurt that the rescue services in general got criticised for doing something that was way beyond what anybody could expect."

Michael Barnett Senior had never had any direct contact with the firefighters who attended Astral Close apart from seeing them at the inquest in December 2007.

Recently, three of the men, Shaun Lyons, Ian Johnson and Phil Hartley went round to his house and spent an hour and a half talking about the events of that day.

Michael Barnett Snr doesn't blame anyone.

Memories return

Shaun reflected the view of the whole crew, saying: "I've been in 16 years… and to go to a job like that it was so much more upsetting than any job we've ever been to."

Mr Barnett told them again that he did not blame them for not saving Michael:

"I couldn’t blame anybody, I wouldn’t have blamed anybody. I mean, this is the reason why I wanted you to be here, because you’ve heard that many stories."

He went on, "I don’t know if you’re the same but, every time it rains I look out the window, you know, and think, 'Oh we’re going to get flooded.'

"The memories come back."

The policemen and firefighters who risked their lives that day have been recognised for their bravery. But they are left to cope with the aftermath of the most traumatic incident of their careers.

Ron Morton finds it difficult to forget the horrors of that day:

"I’ve been a policeman for 28 years, but this situation was quite a bit different. 

"We were hands on for a couple of hours with a lad who’s alive, and then a couple of hours later he dies in front of you." 

What many people may find disturbing, is that, if a similar incident occurred anywhere in the UK today, the outcome might well be the same.

There are still no plans for any police force or fire service to train in underwater rescue.