Yorkshire counts flooding cost again

BBC: Residents and businesses in South Yorkshire are counting the cost after the region was hit by flash floods. About a month's rain fell in 12 hours on Wednesday, causing many thousands of pounds' damage to homes and businesses. Sheffield's Central Library, Town Hall and City Hall were all flooded. The city's international swimming pool, Ponds Forge, was also forced to close.

The Environment Agency admitted the region's infrastructure had been tested to the limit and blamed climate change. Wednesday's scenes brought back memories of the summer floods which devastated large swathes of South Yorkshire in June 2007.

Alec and Rosemary Armitage, of Aston cum Aughton, near Rotherham, were flooded for the second time in two years. The time before we tried to get on with it, but this time it's horrendous. They said up to 2ft (60cm) of muddy water flowed through their home in Heron Hill, ruining their fixtures and fittings.

They only moved back into their refurbished home in May last year following the floods of 2007. Mr Armitage, a parish councillor, said: "I was gutted this time, devastated. The time before we tried to get on with it, but this time it's horrendous."…

In 2007, Michael Wilson from York, United Kingdom, shot this on the street outside his house (the rivers Ouse & Foss are usually confined to the top right hand corner of the shot). Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License