Floods Devastate Homes

CBN Meets the Needs in the Community

As you may have seen in the news, we have experienced some heavy rain here in Hereford. The River Wye was at its highest level ever recorded. As a result, the river has swelled and caused widespread flooding across the region. Many areas have been affected including the immediate area around our CBN UK office.

Floodwater rose to just over a metre at the entrance gates to the CBN building and neighbouring homes have been left devastated.

At least 20 homes in the immediate vicinity have been affected including the residents of a care home, who have been evacuated on stretchers and via rescue dinghies.

Our office was closed due to the inaccessibility of the building but that didn’t stop our CBN staff donning their wellies and helping local residents clear debris from their homes. One of our neighbours, Louise, has been able to speak with us.

“It had been raining for a couple of days quite heavily, which is a frequent occurrence in this area. The night before it flooded completely, I looked out and saw the water was up to my first step, which was normal, so I assumed that would be it. The flood barriers are in place further up the river, so I assumed it would go down the next day as it normally does.

Around 11pm, I read something [on Facebook] that said that the river levels hadn’t peaked yet. I got out my old flood barrier and thought I would put that on, just to safeguard. There was not a lot else I could do, so I went to bed, believing that tomorrow it would be back to normal. I have faith, so tend to lean on that in these kinds of times.

My son-in-law said, “Angels don’t always come with halos on.”

I looked out of the window the next morning to a beautiful sunny day and thought Hallelujah, it’ll all be gone. It had not gone; it had risen more.

I Googled what to do in a flood. I turned off the electricity and I put down everything I could lay my hands on; towels, pillows and put them all up against the door. Then I saw a little trickle coming through the door. I thought, I’m not abandoning, this is my house.

It just kept coming in. There was a bit of a moment where I thought, [God] You’re not real. You’ve abandoned me.

Then I heard some people laughing and I hear this Welsh accent. This guy sticks his head through the window and says “I want to help you. I’ve got a pump and we can pump the water out. Do you mind if we help you?”

We got the pump in through the window and out comes the water. My house would have been in a much worse state if that hadn’t had happened.

My son-in-law said, Angels don’t always come with halos on.”

We have also left our desks again this morning and are continuing to serve the community that has been so deeply affected by the flood. Flood warnings remain in place after the deluge of rain and the uncertainty of the weather in the days ahead is causing concern.