One week from floods and pub is still shut

Homeowners, pubs and businesses are all counting the cost of the mop-up operation following the evening deluge that swamped parts of the city.

The Barley Mow pub in London Road has suffered thousands of pounds of damage and is likely to remain closed for another fortnight.

Landlord Chris Madin, aged 23, could not guess how much the damage has cost, but already has £3,000 of ruined stock and an original parquet floor to replace.

Mr Madin, and his partner Louise, aged 18, only took over the pub two-and-a-half months ago but remain upbeat and determined to overcome the disaster. They plan to hold a party when the pub re-opens.

He said: "The drains just couldn't handle it. The cellar filled up, water came up through the manholes, then it started coming up out the toilet.

"The fire brigade came and pumped out most of the water, which in the cellar was way above my knees.

"It was three or four inches in the pub and it's done some damage to the floor. We are waiting to find out if we have to replace the whole thing."

The cellar will have to be sanitised and the stock and ice machines thrown away. The pumps in the bar, which was renovated at the start of the year, will also have to be ripped out and replaced.

Mr Madin said: "It's just a waiting game now. In this business, we want things done yesterday but insurance companies work a bit slower."

The couple praised their customers, who helped them to sweep all the water out of the doors.

Ms Madin said: "They were fantastic - they couldn't have done more. They were going next door and getting brushes and they all helped."

Meanwhile, cleaners were still working away at the White Hart, College Street, which has also been closed since the flood.

The nearby King's Head in Sidbury was also swamped with canal water that burst through manhole covers and came through the gates in the courtyard.

Owners Jane and Bar Pritchard worked alongside staff late into Wednesday night trying to salvage what they could from the flooded cellar. They managed to re-open the following evening.

Barman Nicholas Willcocks described it as a nightmare, with water reaching 5ft.

He said: "We lost everything in the cellar. The ice chiller is a big machine,

but it was being tossed about like it was nothing."

Due to previous floods the pub already had its own pump in the cellar and with the help of the fire service got rid of the water quite quickly. Mr Willcocks said: "We opened the kitchen and the outside area and we did quite well considering. We have just got the pumps back on."

Meanwhile, Jean Eaves who runs Niagara Windows and Doors Ltd, on Newtown Road Trading Estate, with her husband Tony, revealed it would be out of business for five months.

She said: "All the stock, computers, furniture, you name it, it all has to be thrown out. The whole place has to be cleaned out and it needs to be fumigated.

"These machine we use for making windows you don't just buy off the shelf.

"All the orders we have on we just can't fulfil yet - it's such a heavy blow."

Meanwhile, Park Street resident Nigel Leach said most of the damage he suffered was to equipment he had stored in the basement.

The 65-year-old said: "I've got a lot electrical equipment that will need to go for testing as well as antique woodworking tools. I found a box of nails that are completely rusted together."

Mr Leach said that his 1953 motorbike also suffered water damage.

"When the clean-up people came they said they were totally inundated with work so me and a friend, using drying equipment, did most of the work. We cleaned out everything and swept as much as we could."

Joanne Drummond, of Carlisle Road, Ronkswood, said she, her husband and seven of their 11 children are currently staying with her niece because their home is uninhabitable as all the damaged furniture has been removed.

The 37-year-old said: "The children have had some sickness over the weekend.

"It is so annoying to be living out of bags. I have been told to make a claim but until I get this I can't replace anything."

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Worcestershire Safety Camera Partnership said the flash floods did not affect any of the fixed speed cameras in the city after concerns were expressed by motorists.

She said the radar housing is about eight feet from the ground and the electrical wiring beneath the road surface is well protected.