Skip to content

Villagers feel 'marooned' by floods

BBC Three men and one woman standing on grass in front of the stone wall of a church, one man is wearing a blue jacket, one has a brown jacket and the other a pale grey hoodie. The woman is wearing a light brown coat.BBC
Residents fear what might happen in the future if someone has a medical emergency

Residents of a village have said they felt cut off after some of the worst flash flooding in living memory.

Last week, roads into Hadnall in Shropshire were cut off for 36 hours, with houses on Painsbrook Lane among the worst affected by floods.

Local farmer Peter Brisbourne said the only vehicles able to get in and out of Hadnall were the largest of his tractors.

"It was the second deepest it's been in my lifetime, it was almost up to my waist," he said.

"We were basically marooned."

Last week roads into Hadnall were flooded for 36 hours leaving the village cut off.

Pam Stevenson said she had had to rip up carpets and needed to redecorate because of the water damage.

"It was raining heavily and I noticed the culvert was very full and then it started coming across the garden," she said.

She said she was able to watch the water rising outside, reaching as high as her knees.

However, other villagers came to her rescue, helping to tidy up after the water had receded.

A man with a beard and glasses wearing a green jacket and a vicar's collar standing in front of a culvert with a brick wall and metal railings surrounding it
The Rev Paul Cawthorne said he was prepared for more flooding in future

Another resident, Lorraine Lewis, told BBC Radio Shropshire: "The elderly residents and the ones with younger children are extremely concerned that if they need medical assistance no vehicle would have got through."

Local vicar the Reverend Paul Cawthorne has been trying to support people where he can and praised their community spirit.

But he said Hadnall sits on a flood plain and water could not run off quickly when there was heavy rain.

Paul Cawthorne A garden covered by flood water surrounded by a high hedge. A climbing plant stands in the centre, with blue planters to the rightPaul Cawthorne
Gardens were also flooded

"You just wonder what we're in for over the next decade or two," he said.

"I suppose it's another impetus really for people to take the issue of climate change more seriously and try to do something about it."

Ultimately, he said he believed local people would have to adjust their lifestyles to cope with more flooding.

"I think the sooner we start to make the changes the better really," he said.

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

More on this story