Flood clean up a 'total nightmare', says business

4 December 2025

Kate Justice,Ewyas Haroldand

Elliot Ball,West Midlands

News image — Business owner Bennie Krige said he had lost more than £20,000 worth of stock

BBC A bald man wearing a navy blue fleece is pictured outside a wooden cabin during a sunny day. — Business owner Bennie Krige said he had lost more than £20,000 worth of stock

A business owner in a village that saw flood water flow "like a river" through its centre has described the weeks that followed as "a total nightmare".

Bennie Krige, owner of Ewyas Harold Village Store and Post Office in Herefordshire, said he "spent the last three weeks continuously cleaning".

Ewyas Harold recorded record rainfall during Storm Claudia, which damaged homes and businesses in the area.

"The stock losses we've suffered have been enormous, probably in excess of £20,000 which has just gone in the tip," Mr Krige said.

Following the clean-up, Mr Krige said "we're open and ready to go" but did admit he and some other residents were still anxious about the same happening again.

He said: "Every time it rains you kind of go, 'oh, not again' but we live in Ewyas Harold, we've been here 20 years so this isn't something that is completely alien to us."

Dark orange floodwater running through a village. The water has covered the road and is sweeping through the street. There is a pub on the right and a bus stop, phone box and fish and chip shop that are all flooded. A fire engine is on the left trying to pump out the water. — Ewyas Harold recorded record rainfall during Storm Claudia

Sharon Lee, from the neighbouring village of Clodock, said: "We had water coming through the walls.

"We just started fighting the water. We've got a pump and we've got an aquavac so we were sucking it up with that.

"We were trying to stop it from getting further into our cottage but it was relentless."

She added: "By the time I thought to go look in our sitting room we were six inches deep in water.

"It started coming over the tops of my wellies, when we last measured it, it was, I think, 14 inches deep in the cottage. We just had to retreat upstairs."

A woman with shoulder length brown hair in a red hoodie stands next to a diagram of a house with red labels coming off it. — Mary Long-Dhonau said she had visited Ewyas Harold to give people an idea of how to "better protect their homes"

A "Floodmobile" visited parts of Herefordshire this week, including Ewyas Harold on Wednesday.

Flooding advisor Mary Long-Dhonau, sometimes known as "Flood Mary" was joined by representatives from Herefordshire Council and the Environment Agency to answer questions and provide advice to residents.

Speaking to BBC Hereford and Worcester, Ms Long-Dhonau said: "It's really to give people an idea of how to better protect their homes and also how to help their homes recover after a flood."

The flooding advisor said she had backed a successful campaign in 2022 to "build in flood resilience" to homes that were impacted by flood water so that they were better prepared for the next occasion.

It means homeowners can be given up to £10,000 on top of their insurance claim to build in flood resilience, provided their insurer has signed up to Build Back Better initiative.

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