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Trio's horror at flood scene
A STAITHES lifeboat volunteer called to help rescue people stranded by the Cockermouth floods has called the scenes that greeted him "unbelievable".
Lee Jackson, along with Staithes colleague Adam Robertson and Whitby's Howard Fields, were part of a swift water rescue team sent to help with the evacuation.
The Cumbrian town they found upon arrival on Thursday night was like something out of a disaster movie after heavy rain saw water levels reach 2.5m (8ft) in the town centre.
Mr Jackson told the Whitby Gazette they could not believe what they saw.
"We launched the boat from a side street at 1am into Main Street and the ferocity of the water took us all by surprise," he said.
"We had the boat's engine on full throttle and at times we were hardly moving. We were told in our briefing before we went out that if one of us went over the side of the boat we would be away in seconds as the water was flowing at around 15mph.
"Basically, if you come out the boat, you're gone.
"Your training takes over and it's then you're glad you put all the work in."
The three local RNLI members were tasked with rescuing people who had become stranded in their homes and places of work.
In one instance, they had to get the fire brigade to cut bars of a bank window in order to reach two workers who had become trapped inside.
"We were getting people stuck on their second floor so we spent a few hours going backwards and forwards getting people out of harm's way," he said.
"Some of them were obviously scared but other were in pretty high spirits."
Only one person, PC Bill Barker, was killed in the floods when the bridge he was on collapsed under the strain of the water.
"It was a testament to the hard work of everyone involved that no-one else was killed," said Mr Jackson.
"It was by far the worst scenes I have ever come across in my time, so it is amazing that so many were saved."
Adam Robertson, a crewman at Staithes, said: "We all commented how we had never experienced anything like it. Driving the boats around streets is so different from the open sea – there were so many obstacles and the water was going so fast.
"We really feel for the people of Cockermouth and Cumbria and hope they can soon rebuild their lives."
The team were stood down and returned home after more than 30 hours on duty.
The cost of repairing the damage of the floods is estimated to run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
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Weather for Whitby
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
