'We've never seen flooding like this before'

A rugby club badly flooded in Storm Chandra has said the water damage will have "financial implications".

Taunton Rugby Club has thanked the local community for their donations to a fundraiser and helping with the clear-up after Tuesday's flooding.

James Tolman, general manager at Taunton Rugby Club said: "We had about a foot of water in the conference rooms downstairs and the changing rooms.

"I've been here a long time, and the nice thing about Taunton Rugby Club is how many people support us."

"I've never seen anything like it. I think everyone will be shocked about how flooded we were because people won't believe that until they see it," Tolman added.

"The [crowd]funding is for refurbishing and fixing the damage, nothing else other than getting us back to where we can open the doors again."

He said the support from the community has been "amazing".

"Obviously today has been a big day of clearing, making sure we can get everything up and running again as fast as possible," he added.

"Until the water reduces we won't be able to use any facilities here. It's just demoralising," Tolman added.

"The first team has been going from strength to strength, we had a great result against Cinderford at home.

"We're very grateful for having that amount of people down on the Sundays and when we do get back to normal it would be nice to have everyone back down and supporting us."

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