Somerset man left 'devastated' by floods amid further rain warning

A man said his business had been "devastated" after recent flooding, amid concerns there may be more flooding this weekend.

Paws N Klaws pet services near Yeovil was badly hit by flooding on Monday and has been struggling to recover, with more rain on the way.

"It's such a devastating situation," said owner Kai Stock.

The Environment Agency said it was closely monitoring water levels in south Somerset over the next 24 hours.

The Met Office said a band of heavy rain would gradually move in, from the early hours of Saturday morning, with a yellow weather warning for rain covering parts of south Somerset, over Chard and near Yeovil.

Mr Stock said: "I've put my whole self in, my money, my soul, my energy and everything. And now I'm just coming to accept the facts."

Staff from Paws N Klaws, in Ilchester, lined the road with sandbags and carried dogs out of the building on Monday.

The ground floor was completely flooded and cars outside half-submerged in water after the deluge earlier this week.

"Having so many floods in such a short period of time, at the moment, I don't know what the next step is to be honest," Mr Stock added.

Ian Withers, from the Environment Agency, said they were managing the situation in Somerset "around the clock".

He said: "In fact although the rainfall yesterday was a bit lower than was forecast it has been a wet few days particularly in the south of Somerset and that water now needs to flow down our rivers out to the estuaries and that is the prime area of interest over the next 48 hours.

"There is a lot of water about but we are managing that around the clock."

Mr Withers added: "The levels and the moors of Somerset are absolutely key - they're filling with water and that is preventing flooding to communities further down.

"That is exactly what we want them to do and when those rivers drop, we will pump the water out of the moors back into the rivers before it can do any damage.

"We've bought in a couple of pumps in a couple of key areas but we haven't bought in the big jumps we bought in in January - they're ready to go if we need them and we'll make a decision if we need them in the next 24 hours."

Judi Speirs has been living in Martock for 30 years and said she had never been flooded before Monday. She is preparing for any further flooding over the weekend.

She said: "It was literally bubbling up, so the ground water got so sodden there was no where else for it to go.

"Now I'm left with a floor which is now like a sprung ballroom like Strictly Come Dancing."

Ms Speirs said a few bits of furniture had been ruined by the flood water.

Sarah Cranfield has just moved to Martock and said water was coming through her floor.

She said: "It was slightly surreal because I've never had to deal with anything like this.

"Although we had sandbags at the door, the water was coming in under the flagstones and in the sitting room as well."

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